An officer helping enact Putin's mobilization is the latest in a string of unexplained deaths among high-ranking Russians

• A Russian official who oversaw military enlistment was found dead, local officials said.
• He had signs of suicide but people close to him are skeptical of that explanation, reports said.

A Russian officer in charge of sending men to war was found dead, the latest in a string of mysterious deaths among officials and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Roman Malyk, the military commissar for a Russian town and two nearby administrative districts, died on October 14, local officials announced in a tribute on the VKontakte social-media site.

He oversaw enlistment in the town of Partizansk and two nearby administrative regions, per the announcement.

Meduza, the independent Russian news site, reported that he was responsible for mobilization and enlistment.

It reported that police are investigating if his death was a suicide, as well as the possibility of murder.

People close to him do not believe that it was a suicide, Meduza reported, without specifying the source of that information.

It reported that local news outlet Vremya Peremen said his body was found "on a fence" and "with signs of suicide."

Putin announced the "partial mobilization" of Russians in September, forcing vast numbers of military reservists to join his invasion of Ukraine.

But those efforts have not gone smoothly for Putin. His announcement was met with protests, an exodus of fighting-age men from Russia, and attacks on enlistment officials.

The Kremlin also admitted that mistakes in the execution of the draft, which has seen people summoned to fight despite not meeting the requirements for age or prior military experience.

Mysterious deaths

A number of Russian officials have died in unusual or unexplained ways in the months since the Ukraine invasion began.

As Insider's Mia Jankowicz previously reported, many of them are connected to the Kremlin and Russia's energy and technology sectors.

These include an energy executive dying, per a Russian media source, by falling out of a window, and a former executive at the same company being found dead of what state media said was a heart attack.

The body of an aviation executive was found three days after he fell off a speeding boat, and the CEO of the same company died of a stoke, their company said.

The former head of a Russian aviation research institute also died, with a source telling Russian media that he fell down the stairs.

And other Russian executives or bosses also died in suspicious circumstances since the start of this year. Russia has long been accused of using violent means to punish its domestic foes.