Retired FSB Major General Igor Laptev died by suicide in Moscow, according to MK. The body of the 83-year-old was found at his home on August 20. The circumstances of his death have not been disclosed.
Laptev took part in combat operations in Afghanistan. He subsequently served for many years in the KGB and FSB, where he worked on information security issues. In the late 1990s, Laptev served as deputy minister for taxes and duties.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, there has been a series of suicides involving generals from Russia’s security agencies. In May, 87-year-old Colonel General Stanislav Petrov, former head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, died in Moscow. His body was found in an apartment in the House on the Embankment.
In February 2023, 72-year-old Police Major General Vladimir Makarov was found dead in the Moscow region. He had served as deputy head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Extremism and had been dismissed from the post shortly before his death due to his age. TASS reported that Makarov died by suicide.
In July 2022, retired FSB Major General Yevgeny Lobachev died in Moscow. His body was found on the landing of a residential building on Kachalinskaya Street. Lobachev was 76. According to TASS, citing law enforcement sources, his death was ruled a suicide.
A month earlier, 90-year-old retired Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Major General Lev Sotskov was found dead in Moscow. RBC reported that his body was discovered in his apartment on Novatorov Street, with an award pistol found nearby.
