Mikhail Lesin, President Putin's former personal adviser on media affairs and the founder of Russia Today, was found dead in a Washington hotel room back in 2015. The cause of death given was a heart attack.
But now the story has changed after an FBI report was released on Saturday (27th) that showed Lesin died as a result of blunt force injuries to his head. As the heavily redacted document puts it:
"Mr. Lesin died as a result of blunt force injuries to his head, with contributing causes being blunt force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities, and lower extremities, which were induced by falls, with acute ethanol intoxication."
There are two possibilities here, either Lesin got really, really drunk and then started breakdancing against the furniture, battering himself to death in the process, or else it was a hit job.
With regard to the second possibility, the fact that Lesin was a former Kremlin insider staying at a hotel in Washington DC seems highly significant. Was Lesin in town to do a deal dishing dirt on his former boss? Such a possibility provides a clear motive for any hit man.
Russia Today really loved the Alt-Right when Obama was President. |
Lesin served as Minister of Press and Mass Media from 1999 to 2004, then as a presidential media adviser from 2004 to 2009. It was during his time as Minister of Press and Mass Media that he oversaw the creation of Russia Today, the Russian state's overseas media arm, launched in 2005.
From 2013 to 2015 Lesin was chief executive officer at Garprom-Media, a position he is thought to have been forced out of. He then moved to Los Angeles, where his family had bought considerable properties, far in excess of his paid worth.
The trajectory here is clear -- a high-powered Kremlin insider with plenty of secrets to sell, moving further and further away from his former boss. Not exactly the most healthy ingredients to mix in that final fatal cocktail, especially when the boss is Vladimir Putin.
Also, why is this coming out now? The FBI have been sitting on this for around two years. This wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that Putin is up for re-election this March? Nah, coincidences like that never happen, do they?
Almost certainly Richard Spencer's latest kill.
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