An American dating coach-turned-blogger who was accused of pushing Kremlin propaganda in Ukraine has died in jail there, the State Department has confirmed.
A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed the death of Gonzalo Lira, 55, in comments to The Daily Beast on Wednesday, several days after Lira’s father was first quoted blaming the Biden administration and the Ukrainian president for his son’s death.
Lira was arrested in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in May 2023 and charged with spreading Russian propaganda by posting videos that cheered on the Kremlin’s acts of aggression against Ukraine. After being released on house arrest, he was jailed again in July after fleeing while out on bail, though he claimed in hysterical tweets to followers at the time that it was all part of an attempt by Ukrainian authorities to “disappear” him.
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Right-wing pundits back home in the U.S. soon seized on his unfounded claims to criticize the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine, holding Lira up as a “journalist” they said had been unfairly persecuted by authorities in Kyiv.
As recently as last month, Elon Musk famously appealed directly to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his X platform to demand an explanation for how “an American citizen is in prison n [sic] Ukraine after we sent over a $100 billion.”
Ukraine’s Security Service promptly shot back, noting that Lira had violated Ukrainian law by justifying Russia’s “armed aggression” against the country.
The Kremlin, predictably, has held up Lira as a hero and fearless “journalist” exposing the hypocrisy of the West. Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the “collective West” of deliberately ignoring Lira’s death to cover up such a “flagrant example of repression.”
Lira got his start with misogynistic dating advice shared on YouTube, where he billed himself as a relationship expert, but he suddenly pivoted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, blasting out Kremlin-friendly conspiracy theories and claiming to have foreign policy expertise since he was living in Ukraine.
He was soon touted as a free speech defender by figures on the right, including Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who tweeted Friday saying Lira’s father had confirmed his death.
The 55-year-old’s father was also quoted telling the Kremlin-aligned outlet The Grayzone that his son had been ill with pneumonia for three months. A letter ostensibly written by Lira from behind bars complained that his health issues had been “ignored” by the prison staff where he was being held until Dec. 22, after which a “procedure” had been scheduled.
Lira had been due for a court hearing on Dec. 21 for the case against him.
