The ex-commander murdered in Russia could have been “liquidated by his own people,” according to the Ukrainian military. The act was apparently “carefully planned”.
Moscow – Former Russian submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitzki was assassinated in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. The 42-year-old was shot dead while jogging on Monday morning (July 10). According to Duma deputy and former mayor of Krasnodar, Yevgeny Pervyshev, the deadly shots were fired in the victim’s back.
An investigation into murder had therefore been initiated, the local investigative authorities announced on Tuesday (July 11). Rschitzki’s relatives and friends from Russia denied circulating information that Rschitzki was involved in the shelling of Ukrainian cities at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression.
Russian submarine commander murdered: “Liquidated by their own people”?
There is speculation in the Russian media as to how the previously unknown perpetrator might have been able to locate Rschitzki. The officer’s running route was known via a popular jogging app called “Strava”. Accordingly, Rschitzki is said to have regularly published his completed runs on the Internet. From this publicly available information it is also clear that he has not changed his running route.
Rzhitzkiy worked in the Krasnodar city administration, where he was responsible for mobilizing recruits. However, he was previously involved in the shelling of the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia as a submarine commander, the Ukrainian military said. It is believed that he was “liquidated by his own people” because he refused to carry out the orders of the military leadership. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service, denied that his organization was involved in the assassination.
Assassination attempt on Russian commanders: crime scene is on his jogging route
According to the father of ex-commander Rschitzki, however, he never took part in the Ukraine war. The Telegram channel Baza quoted him as saying that he had already submitted an application for dismissal at the end of 2021, which was granted. The dismissal officially did not take place until the summer of 2022, but in the meantime Rschitzki no longer had any command, but had been on land in Sevastopol in Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia since 2014. He had not received any threats, nor had he behaved unusually before his assassination.
Russian media outlet Tsargrad reported that the attacker “planned the murder so carefully that the moment of the attack was not caught on any surveillance camera.” According to report by CNN Rschitzki’s jogging and cycling routes appeared on an account under his name on the Sports app. One of his regular jogging routes, which he completed in Krasnodar, also led through the park where he was killed early Monday. (na/dpa)
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