A TOP Vladimir Putin crony is fighting for his life in a coma after a mysterious crash left him with a traumatic brain injury.
Kremlin propagandist Alexei Kostylev, 39, was reportedly involved in a horror high-speed accident when his all-terrain vehicle (ATV) flipped in the middle of the road.
Kremlin propagandist Alexei Kostylev has been involved in a life-threatening ATV crash in RussiaEAST2WEST
The Putin crony is fighting for his life in a coma after a mysterious crash left him with a traumatic brain injuryEast2West
Kostylev was standing up on an ATV while going at an extremely high speed, say reportsEast2West
The Russian stooge suffered multiple life-threatening injuries in the crash in Smolensk region.
Kostylev was left in a coma after with a “traumatic brain injury, cerebral haemorrhage, broken legs and a fractured neck”, say Russian news sites.
He underwent urgent emergency surgery before being rushed to Moscow for further treatment.
Kostylev was standing up on an ATV while going at an extremely high speed, say SOTAvision.
He is said to have hit a large bump in the road before flipping in the air.
The ATV reportedly landed on top of Kostylev as he laid on the ground, say horrified witnesses who had to move the vehicle off of him.
A reporter from SOTAvision claimed the crash left his face so badly damaged that he was unrecognisable.
Officials are yet to verify any of the claims made by Russian news sites.
Kostylev’s own outlet – a pro-Kremlin and highly anti-Western news site dubbed Readovka – urged their 2.8 million readers to avoid spreading rumours about his health.
The site shared the following post: “We express our gratitude to everyone who does not spread ‘versions’ from unconfirmed sources.
“We will keep you informed about Alexei’s condition.”
Several Telegram accounts with links to the security services have also discredited the original accounts of the accident.
VChK-OGPU reported that no-one had seen the crash other than Kostylev’s aides who were also on the road with him at the time.
They also claimed he was taken to hospital in an ambulance despite original sources saying he was airlifted away.
Initial reports on the crash were then suspiciously removed from local news websites.
The regional Interior Ministry later said it has no record of the crash.
Kostylev was reportedly visiting the family of Vitaly and Svetlana Morozov in the village of Rukhan.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our editor-in-chief Alexei
Readovka news outlet
The couple left Latvia with their ten children in support of Putin’s regime.
Kostylev and his team were making twisted propaganda videos of the family to hit back at the West after they fled Latvia, said VChK-OGPU.
Readovka gave an update hours after the crash saying: “Alexei was quickly taken to the regional clinical hospital in Smolensk.
“It was decided to transport the founder of the media holding Readovka to Moscow, where he arrived for further treatment.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our editor-in-chief Alexei.
“We will keep you updated with all operational information. An indomitable spirit will overcome anything.”
It comes as dozens of popular Russian figures have died in recent months in mysterious circumstances.
Last week Mikhail Rogachev, 64 – the vice-president of Russian oil giant Yukos – was found dead by Putin’s spies after falling 110ft down from a window at his home in Moscow.
Initial reports in Moscow media outlets said that he had been suffering from “a severe form of cancer”.
But these reports were denied by his close friends and relatives.
His relatives insisted there were no signs that he was suicidal and he was in a “good mood” shortly before his death.
Lukoil tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, also fell from a window of Moscow’s elite Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin Clinic, in September 2022.
He was replaced by Vladimir Nekrasov – in October 2023, who died aged 66 of “acute heart failure” in October 2023.
The following month, Russian senator and war backer, Vladimir Lebedev, with close Lukoil links, died suddenly in an unexplained “terrible tragedy” aged 60.
Meanwhile, a prominent female judge was found dead after falling from a Moscow high-rise building.
Natalia Larina, 50, was notorious for handling high-profile political and criminal cases, punishing traitors of the Kremlin.
Many leading Russian figures have died under mysterious circumstances during Putin’s regime