A prominent scientist who helped develop Russia’s COVID vaccine, Sputnik V, was killed in his apartment in Moscow on Thursday, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Andrey Botikov, who worked as a senior researcher at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Ecology and Mathematics, was found dead in his apartment on Thursday. His death is being investigated as a murder, the committee said in a Telegram statement.

“According to the investigation, on March 2, 2023, in an apartment building located on Rogova Street in Moscow, a 29-year-old young man, during an argument, strangled the 47-year-old owner of the apartment with a belt and fled the scene,” the committee said in a statement on Friday.

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