Russian officer ‘killed himself because he feared he’d be blamed for Ukraine errors’, widow claims

The widow of a senior Russian officer who helped organise Russian mobilisation efforts against Ukraine said he “executed” himself over fears he was being blamed for its failure.

Colonel Vadim Boiko, 44, deputy head of the Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School in Vladivostok, Russia, was found dead on November 16 from multiple gunshot wounds.

In an open letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Yulia Boiko said her husband had been put in charge of the ranks of new draftees at the school who were part of a mass mobilisation which saw around 300,000 reservists called up.

She said he struggled with the logistics of the operation and realised he was being “set up as a ‘fall guy’ for all the failures and shortcomings.”

She said he also had to deal with problems caused by equipment being “unfit” for use, writing: “You would agree that if military equipment that has been used for years as a museum exhibit is now being handed to Boiko to be sent to the front, he cannot with the sweep of one hand fix the mistakes made earlier by someone else”.

Mrs Boiko said her husband had been left suffering from insomnia and lost more than two stone in weight.

He was also threatened with criminal charges and hefty fines after troops complained about the faulty equipment they were issued with.

The colonel shot himself in the chest while sat at his boss’s desk in mid-November - an act his widow claimed was meant to send a signal to Putin that “there is a disaster happening”.

Reports of badly-equipped and led Russian conscripts dying in large numbers in Ukraine have been regularly reported with disquiet over the lack of supplies being voiced in Russia.