Russian President Vladimir Putin with Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
“Incredibly stupid” death. Grigory Nekhoroshev, a political refugee, was responsible for revealing Putin’s alleged extramarital relationship with an Olympic athlete. He died in Riga and, as far as we know, there are no signs of foul play.
The Russian journalist Grigory Nekhoroshevformer editor of Moskovsky Korrespondent and one of the figures associated with the dissemination, in 2008, of rumors about an alleged relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, died in Riga, capital of Latvia, where he had lived for more than a decade as a political refugee.
The death of the 69-year-old journalist was reported by Russian-language media and attributed, by acquaintances of the journalist, to a poisoning caused by poisonous mushrooms that he allegedly picked in his backyard.
Quoted by , Russian journalist Bozhena Rynska wrote on Telegram that Nekhoroshev had ingested false honey mushroomsa species easily confused with edible mushrooms, and called the death “incredibly stupid.”
There is, for now, no public indication that the Latvian authorities have identified a crime.
Nekhoroshev had a long career in Russian journalism. He worked in publications such as Knizhnoe Obozrenie, worked at Novaya Gazeta and was a Moscow correspondent for the BBC. The episode that most marked his career occurred in April 2008, when the Moskovsky Korrespondent published a report according to which Putin had separated from his then wife, Lyudmila Putina, and was about to marry Alina Kabaeva, Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics.
The Kremlin denied the information and Putin reacted angrily when asked about the matter at a press conference in Italy, rejecting the story and criticizing those who, in his words, intruded into the private lives of others with “erotic fantasies”.
Shortly afterwards, the newspaper suspended publication. At the time, management claimed commercial reasons, but the case was read by many Russian journalists as an example of the risk of addressing the Russian president’s personal life.
According to opposition journalist Andrey Malgin, Nekhoroshev was interrogated by the Russian secret services and was forced to leave the country for some time. He ended up settling in Latvia in 2014, where he maintained contacts with cultural and journalistic circles in the Russian diaspora.
His death has now revived this episode, although there is no proof that the two events are linked: the available reports point to accidental food poisoning, with no known proof of external involvement.
