Igor Laptev, a retired 83-year-old major general of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), was found dead in an apartment on Verkhnyaya Krasnoselskaya Street in Moscow, according to the Moscow Komsomolets newspaper, REN TV and Izvestia.
Russian outlets reported that Laptev, born in 1942, is believed to have taken his own life. Delovoy Peterburg and Izvestia said the cause of death was a gunshot wound. No information has been released about a suicide note or the circumstances surrounding the death, and there has been no official statement from law enforcement.
Laptev trained as a chemical engineer at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology in Moscow and joined the KGB in 1971. He took part in combat operations in Afghanistan and worked on defense industry and information security matters.
He later served in the tax police and as deputy minister of the Russian Federation for taxes and duties. From 1998, he chaired the board of directors of Informtekhnika i Svyaz, now the Informtekhnika group, which develops special communications systems supplied to Russian security agencies, including the FSB, the Federal Protective Service, the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry.
Reports differ: Moscow Komsomolets and REN TV reported suicide, while Izvestia and Delovoy Peterburg specified a gunshot wound. Neither version has been officially confirmed.