CNN: Questions Surround Deaths of Eight Prominent Russians Since Trump Elected

Eight high-profile Russians have died since President Donald Trump won the election in November and questions remain surrounding the circumstances of their deaths, CNN reported Monday.

The death of former intelligence official Oleg Erovinkin, who CNN reported had close ties to Russian intelligence, has conspiracy theorists speculating that he might have been a source in the inflammatory dossier that said Russian President Vladimir Putin has been “cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump for at least five years.”

Vitaly Churkin, 64, and Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations died of a heart attack on February 20, while 67-year-old Alexander Kadakin, the Russian ambassador to India, died in January of an undisclosed illness. Denis Voronenkov, 45, a Russian politician who spoke out against Putin after he fled to Ukraine, was shot dead in March outside a hotel in Kiev, and Andrey Malanin, a 54 year old  senior diplomat at the Russian embassy in Greece, reportedly died from natural causes in January.

Andrey Karlov, 62, and Petr Polshikov, 56, were shot to death on December 20 in separate incidents. Karlov was the Russian ambassador to Turkey and Polshikov was a senior Russian diplomat. Another Russian diplomat, 63-year-old Sergei Krivov, was found unresponsive on Election Day in New York City with blunt force trauma to the head. Consular officials said he had a heart attack.

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