Top Russian missile scientist 'assassinated by Ukraine' after body found in Moscow park
12 December 2024, 14:31
A leading Russian missile scientist has been found dead in a Moscow park in an apparent 'assassination' carried out by Ukraine, reports claim.
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The body of Mikhail Shatsky was found in Kuzminsky forest park, at Kotelniki, eight miles southeast of the city centre.
He was head of the software department at the Mars Design Bureau, actively working on upgrading cruise missiles used on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Aleksandr Nevzorov, an exiled Russian journalist, was the first to report the engineer’s death, claiming Ukrainian military intelligence services carried out the killing.
He wrote on social media: "Today, the GUR forces in Moscow eliminated a particularly malicious criminal - Deputy General Designer, Head of the Software Department of the Mars Design Bureau, Mikhail Shatsky.
“He was involved in upgrading the Kh-59 cruise missiles to the Kh-69 level, introducing new UAVs, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians.”
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Other Russian and Ukrainian sources have also reported Shatsky’s death.
Russian APN news agency reported: “As a result of the shooting in Kotelniki on December 11, Mikhail Shatsky, the head of the software department of the Mars Design Bureau, was killed.
"He was engaged in the modernisation of the X-59 cruise missiles and developed the latest types of UAVs [military drones]. Ukrainian nationalists claimed responsibility for the murder.”
Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko wrote on X: “While the information has not yet been confirmed, on December 10 there were reports of a shooting in the suburbs of Moscow that left one middle-aged man dead.
“Videos of an ambulance arriving on the scene were posted online.Russian authorities have yet to release an official statement.
This is just the latest of a string of high-profile Russians found dead amid Russia's war in Ukraine.
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Last August, Professor Vitaly Melnikov, who headed the Department of Rocket and Space Systems, died mysteriously after being poisoned.
A Moscow newspaper claimed that inedible mushrooms were the reason for his sudden downturn in health.
Kristina Baikova, Vice-President of a Russian bank, fell to her death from a window in her 11th-floor-apartment in Moscow in June 2023.
The same month, Grigory Klinishov, a scientist who created Russia's thermonuclear bombs was found dead in his Moscow apartment, with official reports reading he committed suicide.
