Dmitry Kuzmin, a 41-year-old road construction mogul, has died of a suspected heart attack after learning he faced a lengthy prison sentence or a deployment to the front lines in Ukraine.
Kuzmin was charged with the attempted murder of his girlfriend, 33-year-old model Anzhelika Tartanova, following a brutal assault on November 23 of last year.
The attack left Tartanova with catastrophic head injuries, including severe brain damage and shattered bones that required surgeons to remove half of her skull to save her life. Neurosurgeon Vyacheslav Smirnov described the case as “complex and severe,” noting that the model “not only had a subdural haematoma, but also damage and destruction of the brain tissue itself.”
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While Tartanova has begun a slow recovery, she continues to struggle with impaired speech, memory, and coordination. “For a long time I didn’t go near the mirror, I was very scared,” she said when revealing her injuries on television.
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Russian media reports indicate that “Kuzmin’s heart failed due to the psychological trauma of the criminal case brought against him following the horrific beating of Anzhelika.”
Initially, the businessman had hoped to avoid jail time and was even permitted to visit the victim in the hospital before the charges were upgraded to attempted murder. He had been informed that he faced at least eight years in prison, with his only alternative being to enlist in the Russian army to fight in Ukraine.
Tartanova’s sister, Anastasia Beloglazova, expressed the family’s horror at the brutality of the assault, asking, “What kind of animal do you have to be to treat a person like that…? It’s horrifying.”
Despite the death of her attacker, Tartanova faces a long road to recovery as she continues to deal with the lasting cognitive and physical consequences of the trauma.