Putin enemy dies suddenly from accidental mushroom poisoning

A ‘personal enemy’ of Vladimir Putin has died suddenly after eating poisonous mushrooms.

Grigory Nekhoroshev, 69, became a sworn enemy of Putin when he revealed the dictator’s relationship with Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

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He was editor-in-chief of a Russian newspaper which reported in 2008 that the Russian ruler planned to divorce his wife, Lyudmila Putina, and wed Kabaeva instead.

Nekhoroshev died in the Latvian capital Riga, where he had lived in exile as a political refugee for 11 years.

Russian president Vladimir Putin with Alina Kabaeva in 2001. Pic: Sergei Chirikov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Friends say he passed away at home after eating mushrooms he found in the yard of his home.

Though he was a mushroom expert, the mushrooms he collected turned out to be poisonous.

His friends described Nekhoroshev as having been ‘quite nervous’ while in Riga about a possible attack by assassins working for Putin.

Another well-known Russian journalist based in Latvia, Bozhena Rynska, called his loss ‘incomprehensible’.

Russian president Vladimir Putin. Pic: Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images

Igors Vatoļins, who saw Nekhoroshev shortly before he died, said the editor was ‘a not-old, not-ill person, full of ideas and plans’.

He added: ‘Nekhoroshev was the first to reveal the name of Putin’s common-law wife, rhythmic gymnastics champion Alina Kabaeva. Putin clearly did not forgive him for that.’

When the story ran in April 2008, owner Alexander Lebedev – a former KGB spy turned banker and entrepreneur – was forced to close the newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent.

The secret services interrogated Nekhoroshev with threats, and initially, he went abroad before returning.

Alina Kabaeva. Pic: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

A furious Putin responded to the story on Kabaeva by deploring ‘those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives’.

Putin and Kabaeva share two sons, Ivan Putin and Vladimir Putin Jr., who were born in 2015 and 2019, respectively, according to the Dossier Center, a Russian investigative news organisation.

Kabaeva, 43, traveled to a maternity clinic in Lugano, Switzerland, to give birth to Ivan and gave birth to Vladimir Jr. in Moscow, according to the report.

Both Ivan and Vladimir Jr. live in Putin’s mansion northwest of Moscow, though they have no interaction with other children their age, Dossier Center reported, and they receive music lessons and have personal trainers for swimming and artistic gymnastics.

Putin, 73, has publicly acknowledged having two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila Putin, who Putin married in 1983, according to the Kremlin: Maria, 41, and Katerina, 40.