President's Favourite: Deputy editor of Putin's proponent newspaper found dead in Moscow home

The 35-year-old deputy editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, a newspaper known for its pro-Putin stance, was discovered dead at her Moscow residence.

Anna Tsareva’s father made the grim discovery after becoming concerned about her prolonged absence.

Tsareva, responsible for content on Komsomolskaya Pravda’s website, including coverage of Putin’s actions in Ukraine, had been in this editorial role for six years. The newspaper, boasting 83.9 million readers in October 2023, is the largest news website in Russia.

The circumstances surrounding Tsareva’s demise have prompted a police investigation. Preliminary reports suggest no signs of a break-in or violent death. While she had battled an unspecified acute respiratory viral infection with a high fever, speculation has arisen about the possibility of acute heart failure as the cause.

This incident follows the September 2022 death of Vladimir Sungorkin, Komsomolskaya Pravda’s editor-in-chief and director general. His apparent heart attack raised suspicions due to signs of suffocation found by medics. Sungorkin had faced Western sanctions for his role in disseminating pro-Putin propaganda related to the war in Ukraine.

The European Commission labeled Sungorkin as a key figure in foreign information manipulation and interference, accusing him of supporting actions undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Komsomolskaya Pravda, described by President Vladimir Putin as his favorite newspaper, has a controversial history and was once the largest newspaper in both the USSR and post-Soviet Russia.

Tsareva, who previously held editorial positions at Echo Moscow radio station and TASS, becomes another name added to a list of untimely or mysterious deaths linked to Putin’s regime. The circumstances surrounding both Sungorkin and Tsareva’s deaths have ignited speculation, adding to concerns about media independence and the consequences of aligning with pro-Putin narratives.