A HIGH-RANKING businessman with links to Putin's inner circle has been found dead in Russia's latest mystery death.
Jun Aoki, who worked for one of the Kremlin kingpin's most trusted confidants, was discovered inside the iconic Stalin Skyscraper.
Aoki is the 53rd high-profile figure with ties to the Kremlin who has died since Putin's sick invasion of Ukraine just over two years ago.
The 55-year-old business mogul's cause of death is under investigation after "no bodily injuries were found", RBC reports.
Some reports say the CEO suffered "acute heart failure" aged just 55.
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He had not contacted anyone for several days before his sudden death in the skyscraper-turned-hotel, a stone's throw from Putin's government HQ.
Those who knew him contacted cops who found his body in the famous building, now the five star Radisson Collection Hotel Moscow.
The Japanese businessman served on a high-powered Russian board of trustees headed by one of Putin's closest friends.
Aoki, chief of Yamaha Music in Russia, sat on the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory run by Viktor Zubkov, 82.
Steely Zubkov - former Russian prime minister - has known Putin since the Soviet era and is reported to be one of his most trusted confidants.
Two other pro-Putin political leaders Sergei Mironov, 71, and Leonid Slutsky, 56, serve on the same board of trustees.
Zubkov is now the powerful chairman of energy giant Gazprom, which Putin has long used to further his own warped political ends.
The company has been hit by several suspicious deaths throughout Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Aoki's company said his cause of the death is “currently being determined” after the grim discovery.
A law enforcement source said the businessman’s death did not appear to be of a "criminal nature".
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Yamaha Music issued a short statement saying: “We confirm the passing of our CEO Jun Aoki.
“The cause of his death is currently being determined.
“The company continues to operate as normal.”
