Was Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin murdered?

Question by Irish: Was Yuri Gagarin murdered?
Here’s my take on it, he was very popular, Krushchev didn’t like that and felt a potential threat, he had the KGB tamper with the plane and disable the ejection seats. They also slipped something in the pilots coffee before they took off. Then it moves on, a few years later the truth is revealed by a KGB officer to someone in the Politburo, word spreads within the Politburo, they are outraged and move to oust Krushchev and take their revenge. They oust Krushchev. I’d always wondered why Krushchev was ousted? Now I know. So, now you know what really happened : )
Did I say Krushchev, scrub that, I meant Brezhnev of course……..ahem.
I’m confused, lol. The “ahem” at the end there was supposed to indicate something ya know, lol. Thanks.
Answers and Views:

Answer by Sam
I’m very sorry to ruin your burgeoning conspiracy theory, however, Khrushchev was not even Party leader in 1968 (the year the Yuri Gagarin died). In fact, he had been ousted in 1964 and retained absolutely zero power in the Soviet government following that.

The reason Khrushchev was ousted was to what many in the Supreme Soviet deemed erratic behavior during his last few years in office and was removed in favor of the more conservative Brezhnev.

EDIT: Well, Brezhnev was never ousted, so there goes half of your conspiracy theory right there. Also, Gagarin was so popular Soviet authorities actively attempted to keep him away from activities that could harm him. The Soviets even went so far to ban him from any future space flights following the Soyuz 1 flight, which ended in disaster. His political career was also limited in that he only served as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet, most likely due to his star status.

So, no, I don’t think that Brezhnev had Gagarin killed. The potential rewards did not overcome the obvious gains of keeping him alive.

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