Aleksei Bugayev, a former member of Russia’s national football team who competed in Euro 2004, has been killed in the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russian media reported Sunday, citing his father and agent.
“Unfortunately, the news of Aleksei’s death is true. It happened today,” his father, Ivan Bugayev, told TASS, as reported by Sport24.
Bugayev’s agent, Anton Smirnov, told RIA that intense fighting had made it impossible to recover Bugayev’s body for burial.
Bugayev, 43, played two matches for the Russian national team in the 2004 European Championship. He also played for Moscow clubs Torpedo and Lokomotiv, as well as several provincial sides. He ended his career in 2010 at age 29.
In September, Bugayev was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison by a court in southern Russia on drug trafficking charges.
He later declared his intention to sign up to fight in the Ukraine war. Russian authorities actively recruit prisoners for the conflict.