Military expert Konstantin Makienko died at the age of 53.

On May 16, a well-known military expert, founder and deputy HEAD of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) Konstantin Makienko died in Moscow. This was announced on Twitter by the press service of the center.

“With deep regret and sadness, we announce the death of Konstantin Makienko, a well-known military expert and founder of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies,” the message says.

According to Kommersant, Makienko died on Sunday morning in a hospital in Kommunarka. He was 52 years old. RIA Novosti, citing the head of the CAST, Ruslan Pukhov, reports that the cause of death was an oncological disease that worsened against the background of a CORONAVIRUS infection.

Makienko was born on February 25, 1969. After serving in the army and graduating from MGIMO in 1997, together with Pukhov, he founded CAST, becoming its deputy DIRECTOR for science.

According to Vedomosti, Makienko was the scientific editor of numerous monographs on a wide range of issues of military-technical cooperation, international relations, armed conflicts, military construction and defense technologies, and the author of publications on these and other topics.