Russian officer and suspected war criminal shot dead while jogging

A suspected war criminal was shot dead while jogging in Russia on Monday. His daily morning routine was widely known thanks to social media posts.

Almost at the same time, Ukraine released a telling video about its secret special forces. The message at the end of the short reads:

How do we know?

The Russian-language news portal 93.ru reported on Monday about the “sensational” case.

On Twitter, Igor Sushko pointed out the special circumstances of the murder. He is a Ukrainian-born American former racing driver and independent blogger covering the Russian war of aggression.

Who is the victim?

According to consistent reports, the person killed is a Russian officer named Stanislav Rzhitsky. This was apparently the commander of the Russian submarine Krasnodar, which was equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles. On July 14, 2022, several rockets were fired from the Black Sea at the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, killing 27 civilians.

Most recently, the highly decorated officer worked as the deputy head of mobilization work in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar – in the mayor’s office.

What do we actually know?

He was killed by four shots to the back and chest during a morning run in a park. The perpetrator escaped unnoticed.

The victim’s watch and headphones were found at the scene, so there was no question of a robbery, the Russian news portal 93.ru reports.

Rzhitsky’s “execution” appears to have been planned well in advance, they say. The assassin knew the routes and bypassed all surveillance cameras, so there were no photos or video recordings.

What does Ukraine have to do with the case?

According to reports on Twitter, the retaliation video of the Ukrainian special forces was published on the morning of July 10. In the evening, the first reports of the murder of the Russians came out.

Twitter references an earlier statement by Kyrylo Oleksijovych Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service (GUR):

Following the July 2022 rocket attack on the center of the city in western Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj described Russia as a “terrorist state”.

He expects Ukrainian military intelligence to take responsibility for the targeted killing, Sushko said.

Sources