According to local media reports, Prime Minister Nikolai Chesnokov of Moscow State Sports Academy died on Thursday at the scene of a monument in the Russian city of Volgograd. He is 68 years old.
Chesnokov went to New York City to compete in a national sports event related to the school and participated in a 279-foot Soviet-era statue standing on Mamayev Kurgan at the Battle of Stalingrad. According to local media, he collapsed while visiting the interior of the statue.
After being pronounced dead at the scene, authorities conducted a preliminary investigation but no foul was suspected. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.
The local channel’s bazaar cited sources from Russian law enforcement, claiming that access within the statue was not officially authorized. The internal structure is rarely accessed by the public and requires navigation ladders and restricted maintenance corridors. Artnews This cannot be verified independently.
Founded in 1967 Motherland calls During World War II, it remained the tallest statue in Europe and a symbol of Soviet resistance. It commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest events in the country’s history, with an estimated 1 million soldiers and civilians killed.
The site has been a political fixture in Russia and a convening point before the state’s activities. Some officials have called on Volgograd to permanently restore its wartime name Stalingrad before the 80th anniversary of June.
Chesnokov is a well-known figure in the Russian sports world and has led the Moscow Academy of Sciences since 2016.
