Head of Putin’s state-run TV empire Zoya Konovalova, 48, found dead with ex-husband after being ‘poisoned’

THE chief editor of one of Vladimir Putin's propaganda TV channels has been found dead from a suspected poisoning, it has been claimed.

Zoya Konovalova, 48, who ran a channel operating near the frontlines of Mad Vlad's illegal war, was found alongside her ex-husband.

The Kuban editor was found in her bedroom and her 52-year-old former husband Andrey Gubatiyka's corpse was found close by.

“No visible injuries were found during the examination of the bodies,” said a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, which is probing the deaths.

The former couple shared a daughter, 15, and an adult son.

“The preliminary cause of death is poisoning by an unknown substance,” said a report by her own channel.

A fragment of a plastic bag with a "powdery substance" was reportedly found in the TV chief’s private house in Krasnodar city.

But her colleagues and friends insisted today she would never have taken drugs.

The Kuban media outlet is part of the state-run giant All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company [VGTRK], a key prop in Putin’s propaganda empire.

The pair are believed to have been dead for at least 24 hours before their bodies were discovered.

They were apparently found by law enforcement and the investigating committee said: “When examining the bodies, no visible injuries were found.

“Forensic medical examinations have been arranged.”

Dozens of mysterious deaths of prominent Russians have been reported since the start of Putin’s war with Ukraine.

Ukraine is also believed to have carried out assassinations of those who support the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Just last month the 35-year-old deputy editor-in-chief of Putin’s favourite newspaper was found dead in Moscow.

Anna Tsareva’s body was discovered at her home in the Russian capital, with an investigation underway.

It came nearly a year after the death of her boss Vladimir Sungorkin, 68.

In September 2022, her boss Vladimir Sungorkin, 68,
editor-in-chief and director general of Komsomolskaya Pravda, died of a “heart attack” after showing signs of suffocation.

His death has been seen as suspicious.

He is often included among a list of dozens of untimely or mysterious deaths since the start of Putin’s war.

Russia has previously claimed that Vladimir Solovyov, a top presenter and frothing propagandist at VGTRK, had been targeted by Ukraine in an assassination bid.

The deputy director of VGTRK is Dmitry Kiselyov - another leading propagandist - who has said that Britain is “so small that one Sarmat missile is enough to drown it once and for all”.

“The Russian missile Sarmat [Satan-2], the world most powerful…is capable of … destroying an area the size of Texas or England.”

Konovalova was influential as an editor in Krasnodar region, which lies across the Kerch Strait from annexed Crimea.

Putin’s official Black Sea residence is in this region, as is his £3 billion cliff top palace at Gelendzhik.

The Krasnodar region has been targeted by Ukraine during the conflict.

Last month Ilya Kyva, 46, once a party leader in the Kyiv parliament, was found “covered in blood” in a suspected assassination near Moscow by Ukrainian secret services.

He had become a Putin puppet who appeared on obedient state TV shows.