Pro-war blogger takes own life after propagandists attack Avdiivka post

A Russian pro-Kremlin blogger and a combattant in the Donbas reportedly committed suicide on Wednesday after being attacked by several leading Russian propagandists for a story he published about the 16,000 Russian soldiers who died in the months-long battle for Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.

Andrey Morozov, better known as “Murz” posted a suicide note on his Telegram channel on Wednesday morning saying that he had decided to end his life after he was made to delete his post about the battle for Avdiivka by commanding officers who had come under pressure from “political whores … too shit scared to come and pull the trigger themselves”.

Morozov blamed Russian talk show host and Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov in particular for his treatment after his post drew criticism from propagandists Yulia Vityazeva and Armen Gasparyan on the Solovyov LIVE TV show on Sunday.

A well-known provocateur whose Telegram channel had over 120,000 subscribers, Morozov was imprisoned for three years in 2007 for shooting at a United Russia sign on the FSB building in Moscow, IStories reported. He also physically assaulted opposition politician Ilya Yashin in 2005. Since 2014, he has been fighting in eastern Ukraine.