Mystery as Putin puppet communist leader in Moldovan breakaway region is found dead with 'stab or gunshot wounds' as murder probe launched 

A murder probe has been opened after a Vladimir Putin puppet politician was found dead in the Moldovan breakaway region Transnistria, bordering Ukraine.

Oleg Khorzhan, 47, was found with ‘multiple stab wounds’ by his wife, said reports. Other reports said he had died from gunshots.

Khorzhan, leader of the Communist Party in Transnistria – a statelet under the guard of 1,500 Russian army ‘peacekeepers’, could have become leader of the region if Putin invaded Moldova.

He was ardently pro-Russian and returned to politics with Moscow’s backing after being convicted to a four year jail term for violence against a government official.

The Moldovan breakaway leader was released eight months ago and was known as a ‘Moscow proxy’. 

Oleg Khorzhan, 47, was found dead by his wife with ‘multiple stab wounds’, while other reports said he died from gunshots

The Communist party leader was known as a ‘Moscow proxy’ and claimed his region had only survived thanks to Russian help

He returned to back Moscow after spending four years in jail for violence against a government official

He insisted the region – self-governing since the end of Soviet times – survived ‘only thanks to the help of Russia’.

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Russia’s Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said: ‘Oleg Khorzhan has died…..killed at home.

‘We demand an investigation be immediately begun.’

Pridnestrovskiy Lesnik Telegram channel commented: ‘Khorzhan’s wife found his corpse near a safe that was left open in one of the rooms of his house. The safe was empty.

‘Did they open the safe to make it look like the murder was committed for the sake of robbery? That would be absurd.’

Earlier this year opposition leader Khorzhan visited Moscow and returned saying he had been promised ‘maximum support for our republic on the part of Russia’ by top pro-Putin politicians.

In March, the authorities in Transnistria claimed to have thwarted an assassination bid on the region’s president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, which they alleged was orchestrated by the SBU secret service in neighbouring Ukraine.

The pro-Putin politician would likely have become leader of breakaway region Transnistria if Russia had invaded Moldova

The SBU denied the allegation and called it ‘a provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin’.

Moldova, Europe’s poorest state, has accused Russia of using Transnistria in its bid to destabilise the country.

Some analysts believe Putin eyes invasion of Moldova, a former part of the old Soviet Union, as he seeks to build a new empire.