Another sudden death in Russia. Former Russian special services general Gennady Lopyrev, who allegedly knew about the construction of President Vladimir Putin’s residence on the shores of the Black Sea, died in custody, the Russian state agency RIA Novosti reports, CNN reports.

General Genadiy Lopyrev – convicted in 2017 for bribery and served a nine-year prison term in correctional colony No. 1. 3 in the central Ryazan region – “suddenly fell ill” and was sent to a local hospital, where he died on August 16, reports RIA.

According to the state agency TASS, Lopyrev was convicted for a bribe of about 7 million rubles (about $74,000). He was also convicted of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, RIA writes, although he avoided these charges in an appeal. The general has always maintained his innocence, denying all accusations.

During the hearing of the case, the court found Gennady Lopyrev guilty of “financial fraud related to the signing of contracts for communication systems” in “Putin’s palace” – the summer residence in Sochi, said the lawyer of the former general Ruslan Zakalyuzhny.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) described Lopyrev’s death as “suspicious” citing sources who said he was considered a “secret keeper” related to the construction of President Putin’s Black Sea residence.

The Black Sea Palace is a forbidden topic in Russia

In 2021, Alexei Navalny’s team published new footage from a luxurious palace worthy of a king.

This 18,000 square meter complex on 7,000 hectares includes vineyards, a hockey rink and even a casino, among other things.

Navalny’s investigative team stated that the palace was financed by Russian oligarchs close to Putin, such as Rosneft director Igor Setsyn or businessman Gennady Timchenko, who were put on their sanctions lists by Western countries after the invasion of Ukraine.

A two-hour investigation published by Navalny in late January 2021 sparked mass protests in Russia, with thousands of people arrested in the country’s major cities.

The Kremlin denies that the palace belongs to Vladimir Putin, condemning the “attack” on the president and calling members of Navalny’s team “fraudsters.”

But in January 2021, just one day after the release of new images of the palace interior, Roskomnadzor ordered all Russian media outlets to remove all investigations of Navalny from their platforms, threatening at least 10 media outlets with blackouts if they did not respond.

In March 2022, Oleksiy Navalny was sentenced to a further 9 years in prison after he was arrested after returning to Russia and was soon sentenced to two years and 8 months in prison.