Updated 01:19 | Published 00:28
Russian chief medical officer Viktor Truchin, 59, knew Vladimir Putin’s medical secrets.
He disappeared but was found and arrested – after he tried to flee the country via Belarus.
“It was not my decision,” Truchin writes in a resignation letter.
Vladimir Putin’s chief medical officer Viktor Truchin, 59, is said to have been privy to information about the Russian president’s medical secrets.
But six days ago, Russia’s vaccine chief disappeared – and was simultaneously fired from his post at a respected scientific institute.
When his family had reported him missing, he had been accused of fraud, writes Daily Mail.
Tried to escape
When Truchin was found by the Russian security service FSB, he was about to flee abroad via Belarus, the Cheka-OGPU Telegram channel states according to the Daily Mail.
“He tried to leave Russia for Belarus and was arrested by agents of the Russian FSB, who apparently knew that the boss was planning to travel abroad,” writes the channel on the chat service.
He had long been head of St Petersburg’s vaccine and serum research institute – and is said to be privy to a lot of information about Russia’s vaccine development.
Nicaraguan passport
After “it became clear that Truchin intended to leave Russia and could tell many interesting things about Russian vaccines and serums,” a police investigation was started against him, the Telegram channel writes.
There, a payment of roughly SEK 65 million to a South American medical institute has come into focus. Truchin is in custody accused of embezzling around SEK 60,000.
When he was arrested, he was carrying a Nicaraguan passport.
Trade with Putin colleague
Truchin’s medical institute is seen as one of Russia’s leading and has been a driving force in developing medicines to tackle everything from covid-19 to hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases.
Its biggest client has been the company Rostec, a state-owned high-tech defense conglomerate run by billionaire Sergei Chemezov, who was Vladimir Putin’s colleague as a KGBKGBSoviet intelligence agent.
“Not my decision”
Truchin’s institute is part of the FMBA, which is a Russian government agency tasked with ensuring the country’s radiation, chemical, biological safety. It was the FMBA that, after his disappearance, accused him of gross fraud.
The last person to see Truchin was his daughter, on September 3. He wrote a resignation letter to his institute, which he called “unique”, to announce his departure.
“The decision was not mine, unfortunately,” Truchin wrote.
His account on messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram briefly opened on September 5, but no one was able to reach him then, according to reports, the Daily Mail writes.