One case for why the KGB might have wanted to kill Gagarin comes from an alleged account by a KGB agent, Venyamin Russayev. It’s recounted in the 2011 book Starman, which covers what the authors claim is a behind-the-scenes look at the Soyuz crash. And the first thing that needs to be said is that a lot of experts dispute many of the details of the book. As far as Gagarin’s story goes, the conclusion you draw depends on if you consider Russayev a reliable source, which the authors of the book claim is the case.
According to an account by Russayev cited in the book, he met Gagarin in an apartment shortly after the crash. Gagarin then led Russayev into a stairwell, since he believed his apartment had been bugged by the government. There, he told Russayev that he was planning to confront the head of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev. “I’ll get through to him somehow, and if I ever find out he knew about the situation and still let everything happen, then I know exactly what I’m going to do,” he reportedly said.
Did Gagarin really threaten the head of the Soviet Union? Did the KGB get wind of it? There’s no real evidence that either happened. But if it did, then it does give the KGB a possible motive to kill Gagarin. For the Soviet leaders, a dead hero might have been better than one that could eventually have been openly critical of the government. Again, it’s important to remember that no one is really certain who Russayev is or if he actually even exists. But if you believe in the idea that the KGB wanted to kill Gagarin, then the details of his death certainly look suspicious.
In March 1968, Gagarin and another pilot were at the controls of a jet for a routine training mission. At around 10 AM, Gagarin reported in by radio that he had completed the training mission and was heading back to base. He never made it back. After Gagarin failed to return and couldn’t be reached by radio, a search began. The wreckage of Gagarin’s plane was discovered in a forest nearby that afternoon. Neither Gagarin nor his co-pilot survived the crash. Gagarin was given a state funeral soon after as rumors began circulating about just what had happened. According to some, Gagarin had been drunk at the controls when he crashed. According to another report, air control had given Gagarin bad weather data that contributed to the crash.
But in 2013, a reported witness at the scene claimed that Gagarin’s plane had been buzzed by a larger aircraft during his flight. As a result, Gagarin lost control and crashed. The most likely explanation is that the crash was an accident. But that hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from wondering if the plane had been sent by the Soviet Government to kill Gagarin. Whatever the truth, Gagarin’s death was a tragedy. Gagarin’s smiling face had done much to humanize the Soviet side of the Space race. As Sergei Korolev, one of the men who helped build the Soviet space program said, it was a smile “that lit up the Cold War.”
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space”. Nola Taylor Redd, Space. July 2012.
“A Cosmonaut’s Fiery Death Retold”. Robert Krulwich, NPR. May 2011.
“The Mysterious Death of the First Man in Space”. Matt Blitz, Popular Mechanics. April 2016.