Suspected Putin Assassin-Blackmailer Blown Up, in Coma – a Mishap or a Message?

On May 4, an explosion occurred in a Moscow apartment. Three people reportedly died, and one man was left in a coma. The man in the coma, an electrician named Mikhail Mukhin, was allegedly scheduled to be working in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s palatial Valdai residence outside of Moscow, which he is said to share with his purported lover Alina Kabaeva, 41, and their two young children, according to Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.

As a result of the explosion on General Tyulenev Street, after which a strong fire began, two apartments were destroyed – on the eighth and ninth floors – and three people died, all members of the same family.

Russian government news agency TASS, citing emergency services, wrote that a leak of household gas could have been the preliminary cause. At the same time, other publications said that the cause was still being determined.

Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which regularly publishes leaks from security forces, wrote on Tuesday May 6 that Sunday’s explosion in Moscow occurred in the apartment of electrician Mikhail Mukhin, who does electrical work at Vladimir Putin’s residence in Valdai.

VChK-OGPU claims that Mukhin, as a hired specialist, was in charge of the work to replace the lighting system in Putin’s residence at the end of 2024. Mukhin reportedly told his acquaintances that he was again called to Valdai and had to go there on May 7.

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However, on the night of the May 4, a strong explosion thundered through Mukhin’s apartment. Citing eyewitnesses, VChK-OGPU reported that the entrance smelled of gunpowder.

The Telegram channel also published an audio recording on May 6 with Yana Tikhomirova, whom it called “the electrician’s former partner.” The woman in the recording said that she was called to the Sklifosovsky Research Institute for identification.

According to Tikhomirova, Mukhin was all bandaged and in a coma. In the recording, she said that the man worked in Valdai, without specifying where exactly.

Russian media, including Agenstvo X channel, reported that Mikhail Mukhin was born in 1990 in the city of Kalyazin in the Tver region and currently resides in an apartment in a nine-story building at 39 General Tyulenev Street in Moscow. The apartment that blew up was on the ninth floor.

Tikhomirova, according to media reports, also lives at the same address as Mukhin.

Blackmail or a message to Putin?

The news has led to a slew of conspiracy theories floating through Russian social media that suggest the explosion might have been an indirect message to Putin himself.

One extravagant plot line claims that the FSB leadership presented a report to Nikolai Patrushev – former head of the FSB – and three other top officials in the Russian government, containing information about an electrician, Mukhin, who was allegedly attempting to sell information about the location of Putin’s corpse to two major US media outlets.

Mukhin reportedly backed his claims with evidence, but the representatives of the publications asked him to verify the information through alternative means.

The electrician is said to have worked in several rooms of the president’s residence in Valdai, including directly participating in the installation of a “cryogenic chamber” in which Putin’s body was said to be kept. Mukhin was scheduled to return to the residence in May for planned maintenance work.

The FSB, according to the conspiracy theory, believed that during this upcoming visit to the residence, Mukhin intended to gather additional evidence. This information was quickly relayed to the leadership of the Federal Protective Service (FSO), and within three days, a special task force composed of FSB and FSO agents was formed to “resolve the issue.”

Members of the task force, according to this scenario, entered Mukhin’s apartment in Moscow to detain him and conduct a search. Upon learning the purpose of the visit, Mukhin expressed confusion and a willingness to cooperate, stating it must be a misunderstanding and asking for permission to get dressed, as he was in his underwear. While alone in a room with one agent, Mukhin allegedly detonated a homemade explosive device.

The incident was officially reported as a gas explosion. Mukhin sustained severe burns and fell into a coma. Members of the task force are reportedly stationed near him at all times, waiting for him to regain consciousness and disclose information about his contacts and any transmission of “classified data” to intelligence services or media outlets from hostile countries.