Story By:  Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor:  Joseph Golder,  Agency: Central European News

CEN/@iakov.yakubovich

This is the moment an 84-year-old former Soviet general and deputy minister of defence is killed in a freak accident involving a reversing van.

The incident took place on Alexander Nevsky Street in the district of Tverskoy in the western Russian capital Moscow, and a CCTV camera captured the moment the van driver was reversing his vehicle and apparently ran over the former Soviet general, identified as 84-year-old Vladimir Shuralyov.

In the footage, the elderly man is seen walking along the road between two buildings when the reversing van driver approaches him, apparently without noticing him.

Local media said the former deputy minister of defence died at the scene.

Shuralyov, 84, was a Soviet and later Russian military officer who held a number of posts in the Soviet Army, reaching the rank of army general.

In retirement, Shuralyov became a leading analyst at the Office of the Inspector General of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and a consultant for the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

He was a member of the central council of the political party ‘A Just Russia’, and he received a number of awards and honours over his career, including the Order of Honour, Order of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Red Star and the Order ‘For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR’ Third Class.

It is unclear whether the van driver has been arrested yet as the investigation continues.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.