A retired Russian spy general who ran a company supplying secure communications to Vladimir Putin’s Defence and Interior ministries has been found dead in Moscow. Major-General Igor Laptev’s body was discovered in his study at his apartment on Verkhnyaya Krasnoselskaya Street on August 20.
The 83-year-old had a gunshot wound to the head, according to reports in Russia. As reported by pro-Kremlin newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, it was claimed that the decorated former KGB and FSB officer had taken his own life.
Details scarce on weapon and motive
A possible motive has not been disclosed, nor is it clear whether a note was left. Details are also scarce regarding the weapon and its owner, but law enforcement did confirm the incident to state media, adding that a pistol was found near his body. He was found by relatives.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has not publicly commented on the death or the circumstances. Laptev died eight days before his 84th birthday but still actively worked in a company with high-level security clearance.
Career in intelligence and government
He had held sensitive positions in Russia’s intelligence services, defence industry, tax police, and government before becoming chairman of the Informtekhnika group, which develops protected communications and information systems used for transmitting state secrets.
Laptev joined the Soviet KGB in 1971 and later took part in combat operations during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. During his service in the KGB and its Russian successor, the FSB, Laptev specialised in ‘information security’.
He later worked for the powerful Federal Tax Police before serving as Russia’s deputy minister for taxes and levies during Boris Yeltsin’s presidency in the late 1990s. At the time of his death, his company was reportedly involved in a legal dispute with the Defence Ministry over alleged delays to military communications contracts, including a £62,600 claim filed in May 2026.
Series of military deaths
Among his accolades were 12 medals, plus both the Soviet Order of the Badge of Honour and Russia’s Order of Honour. His death joins a succession of senior Russian military and intelligence figures reported to have taken their own lives since Putin launched his full-scale invasion.
In June 2022, the body of retired SVR foreign intelligence Major-General Lev Sotskov, 90, was found in his apartment beside a pistol he had reportedly received as an award. A month later, retired FSB Major-General Yevgeny Lobachev, 76, was found dead on the landing of his Moscow apartment building, with Russian law-enforcement sources attributing his death to suicide.
Weeks after being dismissed from his post by Putin, former senior Interior Ministry anti-extremism official Major-General Vladimir Makarov, 72, died from a gunshot wound at his home in February 2023. Former transport minister Roman Starovoit, 53, was also found shot dead in July 2025, hours after Putin sacked him. Russian investigators said suicide was the principal explanation being examined, but there were dark claims he had been ‘tortured’ before being ‘murdered’.
As of January 2026, Russia has lost at least 19 generals, reports claim. There is a long list of additional businesspeople who have died suspiciously since the build-up to Putin’s war.
