No one knows exactly what happened in the final moments of Vadim Stroykin's life.
The 59-year-old Russian singer-songwriter's vibrant career ended abruptly on February 5th, when a team of Russian security services arrived at St. Petersburg flats on the ninth floor at 9am. They were investigating him on what became one of the most serious crimes in Russia today – donating to the Ukrainian military.
According to Russian media reports citing government sources, Stroykin made excuses in the kitchen for a glass of water, opened the window and fell to his death in an obvious suicide. A passerby spotted his body below.
But some of the people who know him best wonder if he took their life.
Stroykin was remembered by dozens of friends whom Guardian interviewed as charismatic and ideal eccentric. He never hid the light-heartedness of Russia's war in Ukraine.
“This idiot [Putin] He wrote on social media in March 2022, a month after the invasion began. “I don't want him to die. I want to see him attempted and put him in prison.”
Philip Back, a close friend who had known Stroykin for over 30 years, said he had a “a sharp understanding of good and evil.”
A friend describes Stroikin, who grew up in the Urals, as a passionate mountaineer who always had an independent streak.
In the last year of the Soviet Union, he was expelled from the university for participating in anti-Soviet demonstrations and forced to be drafted into the army. He was later recognized as a self-taught bard musician, a genre related to Soviet cultural thawing of the 1960s, as the rise of all-talented songs as a means of expression. He also taught students online in Russia all over the world.
Backup said that after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Stroykin lost some of his positivity and sparks. He felt isolated and depressed from social media and conversations with friends, and turned to drinking.
He considered fleeing to Europe at some point in 2022, but another friend from Germany said, but realized that he might not be able to secure the necessary documents.
Despite his growing despair, most of his longtime friends have accepted reports in the Russian media that he committed suicide. Instead, they say something more sinister has happened.
“Vadim is not the type of guy who does it himself. I don't believe in the official version at all,” Buckup said. “He's very confident in his views and will not be afraid of prison. I think the police pushed him out.”
Stroykin's other old friend, Florida Vobushi, said he didn't think he had killed himself and blamed the authorities for his death.
“He had big plans and he loved life so much. It's hard to believe he would do that,” she said. “I don't know what happened, but I think they 'helped' him. ”
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Russia has a long history of prominent executives, outspoken Putin critics and other prominent figures dying in mystical circumstances. Some cases are suspected of assassination, while others remain ambiguous. Few people are believed to be suicide.
Stroykin was one of the thousands of unknown anti-war Russians who decided to fall behind the country but continued to speak out. Some were arrested and later died in prison after authorities said it was a suicide. For others, such as concert pianist Pavel Kucinir, who performed the breached hunger strike, it took the world several days to learn about their deaths.
Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of the Russian Human Rights Group Memorial, said it is often clear that persecution of anti-war opponents is too late.
Journalists and civil society usually learn about prosecution only after a court decision is granted. This is a verdict made without explanation or justification.
Stroykin's body has not been released to his family, his friends say, making it difficult to establish the cause of his death.
Many of his friends have clear conclusions. The nation has the courage to oppose a brutal and unprovoked war, and therefore is ultimately responsible for his death.
“There is no place for an honest man like the modern Russian stroykin,” Vovsi said.
