Russian rock bassist Dmitry Oganyan dies at 45 after being found in a St. Petersburg pond with a severed hand

Dmitry Oganyan, a former bassist for the Russian rock band Kukryniksy, died in St. Petersburg. He was 45. His body was found in a pond near Michmanskaya Street. His clothes and shoes were found on the bank, along with an ax and a severed hand. Oganyan is believed to have severed his own hand before walking into the water. No evidence of foul play was found.

Oganyan had a condition that interfered with his playing. A skin disorder caused his hands to crack, and he had to perform wearing special finger guards, Anatoly Sklyarenko, a friend of Oganyan’s, told Baza, a Telegram channel with ties to Russian security services. “He’d bend his fingers and his skin would split open right away,” Sklyarenko told the St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka. “He’d had this problem for many years.” Sklyarenko said the illness had noticeably interfered with Oganyan’s playing for at least the past year.

Despite his illness, Oganyan had never talked about suicide, his brother Tigran told the Telegram channel 112. Sklyarenko also said Oganyan did not seem unhappy: “If a musician can’t play, of course he’s not doing well. But he was still upbeat — really cheerful and kind.” Oganyan is survived by his wife and two young children, though some reports say three.

Kukryniksy was a rock band founded in 1997 by Alexei Gorshenev, the younger brother of Mikhail Gorshenev, the late frontman of Korol i Shut (King and the Jester). Oganyan joined Kukryniksy in 2001 and played with the band until it broke up in 2018. He later played with the bands Brigadny Podryad and XSELEN. XSELEN played one of its last known shows in February 2026, and Oganyan was onstage that night.