Coincidence or Not? 6 Russian Oligarchs have Died since Start of 2022
All supposedly died via suicide...
As the Russian oligarchs are being threatened by sanctions imposed by the United States and their allies against Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine, many have turned to the worst-case scenario: Suicide. That is if that’s how they have actually died… Last week alone, two Russian oligarchs were found dead with their families. Investigators are labeling the cases murder-suicides. The two oligarchs were found dead just within 48 hours of each other. In addition to these two, four other Russia-connected oligarchs have mysteriously died by suicide.
As mentioned, with the heat of sanctions, the majority of these deaths have come after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th. However, due to a released report by USA Today in 2017, the sanctions may not be the reason. The report released found that 38 high-profile Russians died or went missing in a three-year span. This leads to another situation: Were these oligarchs against Putin?
We do not suspect that every death of these high-profile Russians is a case of foul play. Below is the list of the oligarchs who have died suspiciously in 2022. They may not be the only ones…
Sergey Protosenya
Protosenya was found hanging outside of the Spain villa he was staying at for Easter on April 20th. Not only was his body found dead, but so were the bodies of his wife and daughter (found fatally stabbed in their beds). As they were stabbed, no blood was found on Protosenya’s clothes or person. However, an axe and knife were found near his body.
Investigators are not ruling out the possibility that the family was assassinated, but local Spanish authorities are currently investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide.
Investigators also claim there was no suicide note found.
Protosenya, 55, is a former executive at Novatek, the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia. In response to the deaths of Protosenya and his family, Novatek released a statement that characterized the former executive as “an outstanding person and a wonderful family man, a strong professional who made a considerable contribution to the formation and development of the Company.”
Vladislav Avayev
Strangely, just one day prior to the death of Protosenya, another Russian oligarch Vladislav Avayev was found dead in his Moscow apartment along with the bodies of his wife and daughter. TASS reported the deaths and claimed that law enforcement has evidence pointing to Avayev killing his wife and daughter and then killing himself. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt however as TASS is a state-controlled media outlet…
Avayev was a former Kremlin official and a former vice-president of Gazprombank. He was found dead holding a pistol which has been reported to have allegedly been used to kill his family and himself.
“I think that this is staging. Why? It is hard to say. Maybe he knew something and represented some kind of danger.”
Another Gazprombank vice-president, Igor Volobuev, has questioned Ayavev’s case being labelled a murder-suicide
Gazprombank is Russia’s third-largest bank and is associated with Gazprom, the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world.
Vasily Melnikov
Vasily and his family were all found dead in their family apartment in Nizhny Novgorod early last March. According to the Kommersant Russian Newspaper, the Russian millionaire died alongside his wife and two sons from stab wounds with the knives used being found at the crime scene.
Once again, investigators concluded that the deaths were a product of a murder-suicide. Neighbors and relatives struggle to believe Vasily could’ve killed his family.
It is reported that Melnikov’s company, Medstom, which imports medical equipment into Russia, was on the verge of collapse after western sanctions were imposed in response to the Ukraine war.
Mikhail Watford
The Ukrainian-born oligarch was found dead in the garage of his home in Surrey, UK at the end of February. This case is different as Watford had been hanged, but his wife and children, who were home at the time, had not been harmed.
The investigators claim that they don’t believe foul play was involved “at this time.”
The businessman made his millions as a member of big oil and gas. Watford also changed his last name from Tolstosheya after moving to the UK in the early 2000s.
Alexander Tyulyakov
In another case of suspiciously close deaths (meaning the time of death), Alexander was found hanging in the garage of a cottage in Lenisky just three days before Watford’s death.
A little difference in the trend, investigators found a note next to Alexander’s body which lead investigators to the conclusion that Alexander performed a suicide according to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
An unnamed source in law enforcement told them that Gazprom’s own security unit arrived at the scene of his suicide at the same time as police and is also independently investigating the death. Alexander worked at Gazprom for nearly 10 years and had previously overseen corporate security and human resources.
Leonid Shulman
Nearly a month before Russia invaded Ukraine, another Gazprom top exec. died in the Lenisky district. On January 30th, Leonid Shulman was found dead in the bathroom of his cottage next to an alleged suicide note according to Novaya Gazeta.
In “his” note, Shulman complained about an unbearable pain in his leg and he reportedly wore an Ilizarov apparatus for the injury which is used to reshape limb bones.
According to Fortune, Shulman was in the midst of being investigated for fraud at Gazprom.
Read more in-depth HERE