A TOP Russian ballet dancer who slammed Vladimir Putin for his war against Ukraine has been found dead.
Acclaimed international performer Vladimir Shklyarov, 39, fell from a fifth-floor balcony of his residential block in St Petersburg.
East2WestBallet dancer Vladimir Shklyarov has died[/caption]
The dancer plunged from a fifth-floor balconyAvalon.red
He had starred at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London.
Shklyarov was reportedly leaping between two balconies when he fell to his death.
Local reports suggest he was trying to escape from his apartment where his ex-wife ballerina Maria Shirinkina had locked him – at his request – to stop him from buying drugs.
The reports added he was suffering from drug and alcohol addiction problems.
The couple – recently divorced – had a young son and daughter.
Irina Bartnovskaya, a fellow ballerina, gave a different account of her death.
She said Shklyarovwas was on painkillers and preparing for foot surgery before his death.
“He went out to smoke on a very narrow balcony and fell five stories in a stupid, unbearable accident,” the fellow dancer added.
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.”
Meanwhile, Shklyarov was known to be a powerful critic of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
In 2022, 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.”
It is unclear if his war criticism could be related to his death though many Putin critics have suffered unexplained early deaths.
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