Widow of Russian colonel who shot himself with 5 bullets writes letter to Putin

Yulia, the widow of the deputy head of the Pacific Higher Naval School [one of the Russian Navy's two higher educational institutions], Vadim Boyko, wrote an open letter to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, in which she says that her husband committed "self-execution" after being accused of failing Putin's conscription measures.

Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza

Details: The woman asks Putin to oversee the investigation into the death of her husband, who, according to media reports, committed suicide at his workplace.

The letter is dated 20 November.

In her letter, Yulia Boyko said that on 16 September, a conscription point was deployed at the school where her husband worked.

Russian Colonel Vadim Boyko was put in charge of managing the registration, accommodation and control of the conscripts.

Since then, she said "he has hardly spent any nights at home, tried to solve the problems that arose, but did not receive any support from the leadership. At some point, he realised that he was being ‘made a scapegoat’ for all of the failures and shortcomings".

Then her husband was sent to the training ground in the village of Sergeyevka, Primorsky Krai [Russian Far East], where he was to be responsible for the repair of military equipment to be sent to Ukraine to the combat zone, as well as for the training of conscripts.

Yulia says that her husband faced difficulties, because "it was impossible to perform combat missions with such equipment", but Commodore Oleg Zhuravlev, the head of the military school, did not provide any assistance to him.

According to the woman, her husband had had insomnia for about a month; during which time he lost 15 kilograms of weight.

On 14 November, representatives of a commission from the city of Khabarovsk [Russian Far East] visited the training ground to handle the complaints of the conscripts.

She wrote that Commodore Zhuravlev, the head of the military school, "showed the skill of disguise" and went on sick leave, and her husband was informed that he would face criminal liability.

Quote from Yulia’s letter: "The inspectors openly informed Colonel Boyko that he would be held liable for over 100 million roubles for the loss and damage of state property and would be held criminally liable for confiscation of property."

The body of her husband was found on the morning of 16 November. According to his wife, her husband went from the training ground to the building of the Naval School in the city of Vladivostok and entered the office of his superior.

Quote from Yulia’s letter: "Yes, he enters his [superior’s] office, and not his own, as all the media write, sits in his chair and fires five bullets using a service weapon, but does not aim at his head, does not aim to end it all as soon as possible."

Meduza noted that this is probably the first case of such a suicide in Russia, which was, in fact, self-execution.

Yulia Boyko believes that by his actions, her husband "clearly wanted to attract the attention of the leadership of the Russian Federation and give them a signal that there is a problem, that something needs to be done, that the Motherland is in danger".

The body of Vadim Boyko was found on 16 November, with several gunshot wounds, at the Naval School. Media reported that five bullet casings and four Makarov pistols were found at the scene. Law enforcement agencies did not comment on this.

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