Scientist Who Helped Create Russia's COVID Vax Found Strangled to Death

By Michael Katz    |   Friday, 03 March 2023

A man on a team of 18 scientists who helped create Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine was reportedly found strangled to death with a belt in his northwest Moscow apartment on Thursday.

Andrey Botikov, 48, was a senior researcher at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.

According to the Regnum News Agency in Russia, the suspect is a 29-year-old man identified as Alexei Z., who admitted to law enforcement that he earns extra money by performing sex services. The Daily Mail reported, citing Russian media, the suspect had spent 10 years in prison on charges of providing sex services.

The Russian state-run TASS news agency said the suspect's full name is Alexey Vladimirovich Zmanovsk and that he pleaded guilty Friday at Moscow's Khoroshevo District Court to killing Botikov. TASS reported Zmanovsk was ordered detained until May 2 pending trial and that he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Regnum reported, citing a law enforcement source, investigators determined the pair were arguing at Botikov's apartment, but for what reason is unknown.

"According to preliminary data, the man grabbed the neck of the virologist and began to squeeze his throat with a belt; when the scientist stopped showing signs of life, the suspect let him go," the law enforcement source said, according to Regnum.

Russia became the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine when it gave the OK to the Sputnik V in August 2020. A late-stage study of 20,000 participants published in the journal Lancet in February 2021 said Sputnik V was safe and about 91% effective against infection and highly effective at preventing people from becoming severely ill with COVID-19.

The shot had been given the green light in more than 70 countries, including Mexico and Argentina, but not in the U.S.