An ex-KGB chief linked to the unverified dossier on President Donald Trump was reportedly found dead in the back of his car Dec. 26 under mysterious circumstances.
Oleg Erovinkin, a former KGB general, was “found in a black Lexus… [and] a large-scale investigation has been commenced in the area,” Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency reports. The cause of death has been established as a heart attack, but media speculation suggest foul play, according to The Telegraph.
Erovinkin was an aide to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and current head of the state-owned oil company Rosneft, which is repeatedly named in the dossier. (RELATED: The Source Of Salacious Claims In Trump Dossier Has Been Identified)
Erovinkin was reportedly a key liaison between Sechin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy who compiled the dossier, claimed much of the information came from a source close to Sechin.
Russia expert Christo Grozev of Risk Management Lab, a Bulgaria-based think tank, claims the source was Erovinkin.
“Insiders have described Erovinkin to me alternately as ‘Sechin’s treasurer’ and ‘the go-between between Putin and Sechin,’” Grozev wrote on his blog. “One thing that everyone seems to agree – both in public and private sources – is that Erovinkin was Sechin’s closest associate.”
Mark Galeotti, an expert of Russian security services, expressed doubt over the theories.
“As a rule, people like Gen Yerovinkin don’t tend to die in airport thriller murders,” Galeotti told The Telegraph.
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