And not even on the field of battle:
Putin’s top tank commander died suddenly over the weekend less than 24 hours after the Russian leader cancelled a meeting to discuss weapon production for the war in Ukraine.
Alexei Maslov, the 69-year-old former Russian army commander and tank chief, passed away suddenly on Sunday in a Moscow military hospital.
Maslov and Putin were set to meet hours earlier at the former general’s machine-building plant in Nizhny Tagil before Putin canceled the meeting unexpectedly and "at the last minute."
According to Daily Star, Maslov was criticized by both Putin and the Kremlin before his death for failing to produce enough tanks for Russian troops to use in Ukraine.
The outlet also reported that “nothing had been heard about Maslov's health problems” leading up to his sudden death, and Russia’s Federal Security Service has since formed an “investigative group” to investigate what happened.