The deputy editor of Vladimir Putin's 'favorite newspaper' has been found dead at her home in Moscow under mysterious circumstances. Anna Tsareva, 35, the deputy editor of the pro-Putin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, was found dead by her father after he grew concerned about not seeing her for a couple of days.
Initial reports suggest that there were no signs of a break-in at her apartment and no indications of a violent death. Tsareva's death comes a year after the death of her boss Vladimir Sungorkin, 68, who was also found dead under mysterious circumstances. Police have launched an investigation into her death, as reported by the Baza online news outlet.
Mysterious Death of an Editor
It is known that Tsareva had contracted an unspecified acute respiratory viral infection and suffered a high fever for several days. However, Shot media reported on Wednesday that there are suspicions she died of "acute heart failure."
Her father, who grew concerned after he failed to get in touch with her since Sunday, went to her home and found her lifeless body after entering her flat in Bolshoy Tishinsky Lane in central Moscow.
Tsareva was reported to be responsible for content on Komsomolskaya Pravda's website, including stories about Putin's actions in the conflict with Ukraine.
Komsomolskaya Pravda is the largest news website in Russia, boasting 83.9 million readers in October 2023.
Tsareva had held the position of deputy editor-in-chief for six years before her untimely death.
In September 2022, Tsareva's boss, Vladimir Sungorkin, 68, who served as the editor-in-chief and director-general of Komsomolskaya Pravda, died from an apparent heart attack.
However, his death raised suspicions when medical professionals found signs of suffocation. Sungorkin is frequently cited in a list of numerous untimely or mysterious deaths since the beginning of Putin's war with Ukraine.
Mysterious Deaths Continue
Sungorkin fell unconscious during a tour of the Russian far east just moments after proposing to his group that they "find a beautiful place somewhere... for lunch." Colleague Leonid Zakharov said: "Three minutes later, Vladimir began to suffocate. We took him out for fresh air, he was already unconscious... Nothing helped.
"The doctor who did the initial examination said that apparently, it was a stroke. But this is the initial conclusion."
Sungorkin was sanctioned by Western nations in connection with the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. The European Commission branded Sungorkin as "one of the main actors in foreign information manipulation and interference activities or propagandists who often speaks out on Ukraine, creating misinformation and manipulating facts."
He was also accused of "disseminating and legitimizing aggressive anti-Ukraine and anti-Western propaganda of the Putin regime under direct Kremlin authority in one of Russia's most popular media outlets."
"The newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda has been described also by President Vladimir Putin as his favorite newspaper," the European Commission said.
The commission further stated that the editor "is therefore responsible for supporting actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."
Komsomolskaya Pravda was the largest newspaper in the USSR and, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, became significant in Russia.
Before her role at Komsomolskaya Pravda, Tsareva served as the deputy editor at the Echo Moscow radio station under the highly respected editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov when the station was known for its staunch independence.
