A high-ranking Russian military official who commanded a submarine and was deputy head in charge of military mobilization in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar has been shot dead, authorities announced Monday.
Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was shot multiple times by an unknown assailant who then fled the scene, a law enforcement representative told state-run news agency TASS.
“The motive for the crime is being established. Work is underway to identify the assailants,” the statement reads.
Rzhitsky held the military rank of navy commander, TASS reported, and used to command the Krasnodar submarine, which Ukrainian sources allege was involved in war atrocities.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top investigative body, is looking into Rzhitsky’s death. The organization announced Tuesday morning that it has detained a man born in 1959 (which would make the suspect either 63 or 64) in connection with the shooting.
Few official details about the shooting have been released — but Baza, a Russian Telegram channel with links to security services, reported that Rzhitsky was shot in the back and chest during a morning run near the Olimp sports complex in Krasnodar.
Baza writes that the killer could have tracked Rzhitsky’s movements on the Strava app, a social network used to share workouts, as the commander regularly posted details about his usual jogging route.
A BBC analysis of Rzhitsky’s Strava profile found that he frequently ran through the area where he was reportedly killed.
Some Russian media outlets and politicians have alleged that Ukraine ordered the commander’s death, especially after Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence agency disclosed “previously unknown details” about Rzhitsky’s fatal shooting, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.
The Defence Intelligence agency reported on Telegram that Rzhitsky was jogging around 6 a.m. on Monday in the 30th Anniversary of Victory park in Krasnodar when he was shot “seven times with a Makarov pistol” and died on the spot. Other Russian media sites reported Rzhitsky was shot only four times.
“Due to heavy rain, the park was deserted, so there were no witnesses who could provide details or identify the attacker,” the statement reads.
The head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, Kirill Budanov, has denied the agency was involved in Rzhitsky’s death.
Rzhitsky’s address and personal details appeared on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a vast unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of Ukraine.
On Tuesday the word “Liquidated,” in red letters, had been superimposed on his photograph on the site.
Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser, tweeted that Russian media were pointing the finger at Ukraine but he did not comment on whether that suspicion was justified.
“So far Russian police cannot find a single surveillance camera that would show the crime being committed. The search continues,” Gerashchenko said.
Some Ukrainian media and government officials have claimed that Rzhitsky was the commander in charge of the Krasnodar submarine when it carried out a missile attack that killed civilians in Ukraine.
In July 2022, 23 people, including three children, were killed in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia when Kalibr cruise missiles were launched at the city from a submarine in the Black Sea.
Russia claimed it was targeting a meeting of Ukrainian air force commanders and western arms suppliers, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on civilians an “open act of terrorism.”
It’s unclear if the Krasnodar submarine was the vessel involved in the Vinnytsia missile attack and if Rzhitsky was commanding it at the time.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the Krasnodar is a diesel-electric submarine built for the Black Sea fleet and designed “to fight surface ships and submarines, lay mines, and conduct reconnaissance.”
Baza quoted Rzhitsky’s father as saying that his son resigned from actively serving in the armed forces in December 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he subsequently started working for the Krasnodar city administration.
— With files from Reuters
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