| One of the leading Russian historians and orientalists, professor of sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the expert council of the State Duma Security Committee, 83-year-old Grigory Bondarevsky, died on Thursday in Moscow under mysterious circumstances. In the evening he was found at home with a broken head. The unconscious scientist was urgently sent to the hospital, but died a few hours later in the intensive care unit of the 1st City Hospital. The prosecutor's office opened a criminal case for murder.
It was believed that Mr. Bondarevsky was the victim of robbers. Other versions were not excluded. Being a specialist in the history of the East, including the problems of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Grigory Bondarevsky often commented on events in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps the historian was simply the victim of an accident. Yesterday, representatives of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate stated that the version of murder has not yet found evidence.
According to the capital's police, a call to the scientist's apartment on Tsuryupa Street was received at about 19.30. Mr. Bondarevsky's daughter reported that her father did not answer phone calls all day, although he promised to be at home. A concerned woman went to check on him and found the scientist lying on the floor of his apartment in a pool of blood. The ambulance doctors who were called stated that the professor had received a severe blow to the head with a blunt object and was in a coma.
According to the latest data from the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, the situation in the apartment was not disturbed, and there were no signs of forced entry on the door lock. The investigation is inclined to believe that Mr. Bondarevsky received the injury without outside intervention: perhaps the elderly man lost consciousness and, falling, hit his head on a sharp ledge of furniture.
The professor's relatives do not agree with such conclusions and suggest that Mr. Bondarevsky was a victim of murder. According to them, the drawers in the scientist’s office were opened, and some things were missing, in particular a mobile phone.
The criminal case into the death of the scientist is being investigated, and investigators plan to make a decision after receiving the results of the forensic medical examination.
Over the past six months, at least five representatives of the Russian scientific elite have been killed in Moscow. Yaroslav ZORIN
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