A nuclear physicist who helped create Russia’s first hydrogen bomb was found dead in a Moscow apartment this week, having reportedly committed suicide.
Grigory Klinishov, 92, left behind a suicide note in which he said sorry to his family and confessed that he’d been unable to cope with his health issues and loss of his wife, Russian media reported, citing unnamed sources in law enforcement.
It was not immediately clear if the scientist made any other statements in the alleged note. News of his death broke amid heightened concerns of a nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday accused Moscow of planning to sabotage Europe’s largest atomic power station and unleash radiation.
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Klinishov was reportedly found hanged to death by his 67-year-old daughter in an apartment the two shared. According to Kommersant, investigators have launched a probe into his death despite already deeming it a likely suicide.
Born in 1930, Klinishov developed various types of thermonuclear charges for next generation bombs in addition to his role in creating the two-stage thermonuclear bomb known as RDS-37.
RDS-37, first tested in November 1955 at a testing site in Kazakhstan, was developed in response to the U.S. testing their first hydrogen bomb. Dozens of people were reportedly injured as the shock wave from the blast tore through neighboring villages.
