The long list of Russian oligarchs who died in circumstances attributed by the authorities to “suicide” immediately before and after the invasion of Ukraine has been expanded today with the death of the president of the oil company Lukoil, Ravil Maganov.
The president of Lukoil, a Russian oil company that had mourned “the tragic events in Ukraine,” died today after falling from a window at Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, where he had been hospitalized, Russian authorities reported Interfax and TASS.
Seven Russian oligarchs, mostly in the oil and gas industry, recently died under dubious circumstances, which are classified as suicides according to a recent count by Deutsche Welle.
Such was the case on April 19 of millionaire Sergei Protosenya, in Lloret de Mar (Spain), who was found hanged in his home along with the stabbed woman.
At the same time, the oligarch Vladislav Avayev, along with his wife and 13-year-old daughter, was found dead in his luxurious Moscow apartment.
In late January, a month before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Leonid Schulman, a Gazprom chief, also died in circumstances classified as suicide.
Similarly, on March 24, billionaire Vasily Melnikov, a director of the giant medical device company MedStom, was found dead with his wife Galina and two young children in their apartment in the Russian city of Ninzhni Novgorod.
On February 25, Alexander Tyulyakov, another former Gazprom director, was found dead at home in St. Petersburg.
Three days later, Ukrainian-born oil and gas tycoon Mikhail Watford was also found dead in the garage of his estate in Surrey, southern England.
Andrei Krukovsky, director of the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort, located near Sochi and visited by President Vladimir Putin and his guests, according to Russian media, was found dead after falling from a cliff, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Today, an anonymous source told Interfax that Ravil Maganov “fell from his bedroom window at the Central Clinical Hospital and died of his injuries”.
Maganov, 67, had been hospitalized for a heart attack and was taking antidepressants, according to the same source.
The TASS agency, citing police sources, indicated that the incident was labeled “death by suicide” and occurred at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT).
In March, after the invasion of Ukraine, Lukoil expressed no support for this Kremlin decision, unlike other Russian public and private companies, and on the contrary expressed his disapproval.
In a statement to shareholders at the time, the oil company’s board of directors expressed “its deepest concern about the tragic events in Ukraine”.
Lukoil’s president has been with the oil company in executive positions since 1993, where he served as its first executive vice president and oversaw exploration and production.
In 2020, Lukoil’s board of directors appointed Maganov chairman to replace Valeri Greifer, who passed away in April of that year.
Source: DN
