MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax-AVN) - The Moscow city military prosecutor's office has closed the criminal case brought in December 2001 to investigate the death of Major General Vladimir Kazantsev, ex-commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo.
The criminal case was closed because no elements of crime had been found, Colonel Alexander Chestnykh, deputy military prosecutor of the city, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
The investigation lasted for two months and found out that nobody was to blame for Kazantsev's death. He fell down accidentally from a balcony of his house, Chestnykh said.
According to data available to Interfax-Military News Agency, Kazantsev died at about 2 p.m. Moscow time (1100 GMT) on December 17, 2001. He attempted to get into his flat on the eighth story of an apartment block through the balcony of a neighboring flat, but fell down and died on the spot.
The general was on vacation when the accident occurred. He had just returned from Kosovo and was getting ready to assume the post of the Airborne Troops combat training department chief.