Chilling CCTV shows ‘final run’ of Putin’s Black Sea captain Stanislav Rzhitsky before ‘Strava assassin’ guns him down | The Sun

HAUNTING footage appears to show a Russian naval captain on his final run moments before he was shot dead.

Russian investigators believe a hitman tracked Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, down using the popular fitness app Strava which traced his usual jogging route.

Chilling CCTV shows a cyclist appearing to tail him on his run on Tuesday through the Russian city of Krasnodar and previous runs.

Moments after Rzhitsky was seen running on the clip, he was riddled with up to seven bullets and died on the spot.

Rzhitsky left his Strava page open to public view and it showed a route he frequently took, which authorities believe the assassin studied.

Russian cops claimed Rzhitsky was gunned down on the orders of Ukraine and have since arrested father-of-six Ukrainian-born judo teacher Sergei Denisenko.

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It was suggested the attack was ordered from Ukraine in revenge for an attack on the city of Vinnytsia, killing 27, one year ago.

Rzhitsky was suspected of being the captain of the submarine at the moment it unleashed the Kalibr missile hell on Vinnytsia.

But while he was formerly the sub's captain, by July 14, 2022 – the date of the missile bombardment –  he had passed on its command to Captain Anatoly Varochkin.

Friends of Denisenko, 64, claim has been framed over the shooting.

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VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reported: "His friends and colleagues do not believe in his involvement in the crime."

There is no CCTV of the exact moment Rzhitsky was struck, but it happened close to bases of the Russian FSB security service and Alpha social forces troops, the channel said.

It added that the location would be an “extremely strange place” for a Ukrainian assassin to kill his Russian target.

According to the channel, the killer then escaped to a trolley bus stop along Kubanskaya Embankment Street, some 380 yards from the scene of the shooting.

It added: "The stop is opposite the fence of the Krasnodar branch of the Alpha special forces unit. For miles around are CCTV cameras. 

"The murder was committed almost at the….FSB Special Forces Centre. 

"They often run there, train in this park."

The cyclist allegedly tailing the submarine captain is not believed to be Denisenko. 

When the war broke out, Denisenko took refuge in Switzerland with his wife and two preschool children.

He later returned to Ukraine and repaired his blitzed house, before going to live with his eldest son in Russia.

The report said: "Relatives note that all this time Sergei was positive, and talked with his family on the phone.

“Despite his anti-war stance, he was not an activist and planned to develop his favourite sport.”

Before the war, he headed the Ukrainian Shotokan Karate Federation.

A pistol and silencers were found at the rented flat he was detained at by armed special forces officers – but his friends say he had no experience with firearms. 

Major-General Kyrylo Budanov denied his agents were responsible for the killing in Krasnodar,  which he instead blamed on internal Russian anti-war foes of Putin.

He said: "We know that the roots of what happened yesterday in the Russian Federation must be sought within Russia itself, where internal protest against the war in Ukraine is growing."

Since Rzhitsky-who had recently worked as a mobilisation official for Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine –  had quit the navy before the war, the motive for a Ukrainian assassination appeared unclear. 

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Rather than Rzhitsky, Captain Anatoliy Varochkin, 56, was in charge of the submarine when the missiles killed tragic Liza Dmitrieva, four, and 26 others in the devastating strike from the Black Sea last year.

He is now deputy chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet. 

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