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Moscow researcher, who helped create the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, reportedly killed in domestic dispute

Source: RIA Novosti

Andrey Botikov, one of the creators of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, was reportedly killed in north-west Moscow, during a domestic dispute. Botikov was an employee of Moscow’s Gamaleya National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.

An employee of Moscow’s Investigative Committee reports that in an apartment in north-west Moscow, a 29-year-old guest argued with the apartment’s owner and then strangled him with a belt. The Investigative Committee did not disclose the victim’s identity.

A source for RIA Novosti reported that the victim was Andrey Botikov, and also that the suspected assailant has already pleaded guilty to murder charges.

Botikov was a senior research scientist at the Gamaleya Center. Along with others involved in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, he was awarded a medal “for merit to the fatherland.”

The Gamaleya Center’s press service refrained from commenting, writes RBC, and recommended contacting law enforcement agencies.

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