Andrey Botikov, developer of the Sputnik V Covid vaccine was found dead in his Rogova Street apartment on Thursday. The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) has launched a murder investigation. 

It was previously reported that he survived the altercation after an intruder broke into his home and quarreled with him over money. 

Who was Andrey Botikov?

Andrey Botikov, 47, was a senior researcher at the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. He formerly worked as a senior scientist at the Russian State Collection of Viruses of DI Ivanovsky Institute of Virology.

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Botikov was one of 18 scientists who worked on the development of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in 2020. 

He was honored with an Order of Merit for the Fatherland for his work on the Sputnik V vaccine. Sputnik was the first registered combination vector vaccine against Covid-19.

Critics claimed that the vaccine was approved without robust research into its safety and efficacy. Also, a 2021 article in The Lancet claimed that Sputnik V ‘appeared safe and effective.’

The 47-year-old scientist had been strangled to death with a belt in northwest Moscow. As it was also reported that had survived an attack by an intruder in past, Russian authorities immediately launched an investigation believing that a 29-year-old man strangled the scientist with a belt during an altercation before fleeing the scene.

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ICR without making mention of Botikov said that they had identified and located the assailant “in the shortest possible time.” He confessed to the crime during the interrogation, it added. It also stated that the accused had already been prosecuted for committing another ‘serious’ crime. 

The scientist died amid a string of members of the Russian elite, including scientists and businessmen being found dead in suspicious circumstances over the past year.

Earlier in February, Russian General Vladimir Makarov was found dead with gunshot wounds in an apparent suicide at his country home. Prior to that, Russian sausage tycoon, Pavel Antov was discovered dead after falling out of a window to his death while staying at a hotel in India.