In 2011 Uspenskiy won his battle with stomach cancer and felt good for the next 5 years. In 2017 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Uspenskiy was treated in Baden-Baden and he returned to Moscow in early August 2018 after completing his fourth course of chemotherapy in Germany. On August 9, 2018, he lost consciousness and his doctors suggested him to go to the hospital but he refused and stayed home. He died 5 days later on August 14th at the age of 80. In the last year of his life, he was able to move only with a wheelchair.