Russian colonel found shot dead in his office in mysterious circumstances

A Russian colonel who was a key part of Vladimir Putin's mobilisation efforts has been found shot dead in his office under mysterious circumstances.

44-year-old Russian colonel Vadim Boyko was found dead in his office at the Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School in Vladivostok, where he was deputy head.

Found dead from 'multiple bullet wounds', Boyko reportedly entered his office as usual after arriving at work and soon afterwards, five gunshots were heard. Another officer rushed into the colonel's office and found his body.

A number of prominent Russians have been found dead in mysterious circumstances in recent months, though most have been critics of Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

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Initial reports claimed suicide as the most likely cause of death, but Russian outlet BAZA has said an investigation into Boyko's death had found five shell casings and four Makarov pistols.

Investigators have questioned how he would have been able to shoot himself five times in the chest if it was a suicide attempt, and there was reportedly no trace of a note too.

Boyko was part of the mobilisation efforts currently ongoing in Russia in an attempt to draft in more manpower for the invasion of Ukraine.

Almost 100 military enlistment offices have been hit with molotov cocktails in demonstrations of anger at attempts from the Putin regime to ramp up Russia's mobilisation efforts.

Those efforts have been going badly, with massive queues of people fleeing the country to avoid being called up spotted at Russia's borders and charities claiming that Putin's regime has turned to rounding up homeless people for the war.

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Of those who have been drafted up, some have called Ukraine and asked how they can go about surrendering, while there have also been plenty of complaints about the poor quality of weapons and equipment they've been supplied with.

Many Russians at risk of being drafted into Putin's war had also been looking up how to break their own arms to get a medical exemption from the conflict.

Russia might need the extra manpower as it has been forced into a number of retreats in the face of Ukrainian counter-attacks and they have now lost more soldiers since February than the US did during the entire Vietnam War.

In response to their recent losses, Russia has reintroduced compulsory military training for high school students, a program it had been ditched two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.