A FORMER Putin ally and top aviation expert has died in Moscow, becoming the latest of the Russian president's associates to meet his end in a mysterious fashion since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Anatoly Gerashchenko, the former rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), died after reportedly falling down a series of flights of stairs on Tuesday.

A Russian channel on the messaging app Telegram, quoting the MAI, said: "This morning, 73-year-old Anatoly Gerashchenko fell from a height, flying [down] several flights of stairs."

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