A top Russian ballet star, who had outraged President Vladimir Putin by publicly blasting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has plunged to his death after reportedly “leaping” from a fifth-floor balcony.
39-year-old Vladimir Shklyarov was found dead beneath his home on Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment in St Petersburg.
Shklyarov had fallen 60ft from the balcony of his apartment on the fifth floor.
He was among the world’s premier ballet dancers and had starred at the Royal Opera House in London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Shklyarov’s death was confirmed by the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg.
However, the theater did not say how Shklyarov had died.
The Russian Investigative Committee indicated the “preliminary cause of death was an accident.”
According to state news agency RIA Novosti, investigators did not provide a sequence of the events.
A report from a crime news agency claimed he had “leaped” from his balcony.
The agency claims Shklyarov was leaping between two balconies on the fifth floor of his residential block when he died.
Unconfirmed reports said he was suffering from previously unreported and unknown drug and alcohol addiction problems.
The crime agency alleges that Shklyarov’s secret drug problem led him to jump from the building.
However, there are also conflicting claims that assert this version is malicious and inaccurate.
Ballerina Irina Bartnovskaya described Shklyarov’s death as a “great tragedy”
Bartnovskaya pointedly attacked “speculation in the press,” appearing to contradict the addiction version.
She gave a different account of his last moments, stating he was on painkillers and preparing for foot surgery before his death.
According to Bartnovskaya, Shklyarovin had gone to smoke on the balcony and suddenly fell five stories.
Bartnovskaya said she believes Shklyarovin must have fallen off the balcony due to “a stupid, unbearable accident.”
She insisted: “He loved life, family, adored his children and his audience.”
It was also revealed he had written to his doctor shortly before his death, saying: “We have to operate.
“I am not ready, but there is no other way out. I can’t stand this pain.”
In 2022, Shklyarov issued a very public and powerful critique of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
He had posted defiantly: “Friends! I am against the war in Ukraine!
“I am for the people, for a peaceful sky above our heads.
“Politicians should be able to negotiate without shooting and killing civilians, for this they were given a tongue and a head.
“My grandfather, Anatoly Filimonovich, graduated from school in Ukraine with a gold medal, my great-grandmother Sonya lived her whole life in Kyiv.
“It is impossible to watch everything that is happening today without tears…
“I want to dance…I want to love everyone – that is the purpose of my life…
“I do not want wars or borders. Vladimir Shklyarov.”
It is unclear if his war criticism could be related to his death though many Putin critics have suffered unexplained early deaths.
