High-profile Russian businessmen have been making a lot of headlines in 2022. With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, many oligarchs were hit by Western sanctions, and some lost their superyachts, jets, and football teams. Other oligarchs, though, were a lot less fortunate.
As of this writing, at least 26 Russian businessmen have died under suspicious circumstances since the end of January. There is no proof that these deaths are in any way connected or are part of an ongoing conspiracy (especially since the timings mostly coincide with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine). It really is just a very curious set of 26 coincidences.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long been suspected of silencing his critics. In 2017, USA TODAY and British journalist Sarah Hurst compiled a list of high-profile Russians who had died under suspicious circumstances or were victims of unsolved murders since the beginning of 2014 and they were able to put together 38 names.
The list included “10 high-profile critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, seven diplomats, six associates of Kremlin power brokers who had a falling out,” as well as “13 military or political leaders involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.”
“Twelve were shot, stabbed or beaten to death. Six were blown up. Ten died allegedly of natural causes. One died of mysterious head injuries, one reportedly slipped and hit his head in a public bath, one was hanged in his jail cell, and one died after drinking coffee. The cause of six deaths was reported as unknown.”
The 2022 list shows an accelerated number of sudden deaths, with fewer shootings and more strange accidents.
Eight of the deaths were caused by some sort of fall — from a building, off a cliff, a flight of stairs, and from a moving luxury yacht. Two were “murder-suicides” that occurred within a 48-hour window. Four were from a stroke or a heart attack, including one that was allegedly induced by a shamanic hangover cure. And there were also three with no official cause of death identified.
There are quite a few notable overlapping patterns.
- Many of the businessmen in the list are connected to Russia’s oil and energy industry — e.g. holding key positions past or present in state-owned energy giant Gazprom, or the country’s second-largest private oil company, Lukoil, as well as the country’s largest independent gas company Novatek.
- At least two (three, if you count Sungorkin) are connected to the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV). This is Putin’s Vladivostok-based project that aims to develop the country’s rich energy and mining resources in the Arctic region. The project has become an important focus for Putin since the limitations of the Western sanctions hit the country.
- There were only a couple of incidents over the summer, but as Ukraine’s counteroffensive recaptured territory in Eastern Ukraine in September, oligarchs started dying again.
- Three crypto billionaires (Mushegian, Kullander, and Taran) died within weeks of each other shortly after the collapse of FTX.
- Two of the most recent incidents involve military-adjacent businessmen. Buzakov is the Director General of the company that is currently building Kilo-class diesel-powered submarines that can be used to launch Kalibr cruise missiles. Maslov, who was formerly the commander in chief of Russia’s ground forces, was working for the world’s biggest tank manufacturer – and was to meet Putin the day before he died, before Putin cancelled the meeting at the last minute.
- Many on the list, including Antov, are known to have at some point criticized Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Earlier in the year, the Polish think tank the Warsaw Institute speculated that the Gazprom-related deaths could be the result of senior Kremlin-linked individuals “covering up traces of fraud in state-run companies.”
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, offers a more updated conjecture: these are “Russians who knew too much about Kremlin’s finances and military secrets and from Putin’s circle.”
Here’s a breakdown of the 2022 list so far.
| # | NAME | AGE | DESIGNATION | DATE OF DEATH | REPORTED CAUSE OF DEATH | REMARKS |
| 1 | Leonid Shulman | 60 | Director of Transport at Gazprom | 30 Jan | Suicide; found with deep cuts on his wrists | A suicide note was found next to his body |
| 2 | Igor Nosov | 44 | CEO of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV) and former Deputy Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast | 8 Feb | Suffered a stroke | Boss of Igor Pechorin |
| 3 | Alexander Tyulakov | 61 | Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center at Gazprom | 25 Feb | Found hanging in a garage near St. Petersburg | A suicide note was found on his body |
| 4 | Mikhail Watford | 66 | Businessman (made his fortune in oil and gas, later ran ultra-prime property development company High Life) | 28 Feb | “Unexplained circumstances”; some reports say he was found hanging in his garage | British authorities say that there was no evidence of a crime |
| 5 | Vasily Melnikov | 43 | CEO and owner of MedStorm | 23 Mar | Stabbed to death in his home | His wife and two sons were also found dead beside him |
| 6 | Vladislav Avayev | 51 | Former Vice President of Gazprombank | 18 Apr | Murder-suicide; gunshot | His wife and 13-year-old daughter were found dead beside him |
| 7 | Sergey Protosenya | 55 | Former Deputy Chairman of Novatek | 19 Apr | Murder-suicide; found hanging in an apartment in Lloret de Mar, Spain | His wife and daughter were found dead in their beds with blunt axe wounds and stab wounds |
| 8 | Andrei Krukovsky | 37 | General Director of the Estosadok Krasnaya Polyana, a ski resort owned by Gazprom | 1 May | Fell off a cliff while hiking to Achipse Fortress | Reportedly had extensive mountaineering experience |
| 9 | Alexander Subbotin | 43 | Board member of Lukoil | 8 May | A drug-induced heart attack during a shamanic ritual | His death comes just months after Lukoil called for a quick end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. |
| 10 | Yuri Voronov | 61 | CEO of Astra Shipping, a subcontractor of Gazprom | 4 Jul | Gunshot wounds to the head | His wife has reportedly told investigators that he believed he was being swindled out of “a lot of money” by “dishonorable” contractors and partners. |
| 11 | Dan Rapoport | 52 | Businessman | 14 Aug | Fell from his apartment building in Washington DC | It was reported that he left Russia in large part due to his support for Russia’s democratic opposition, particularly his support for Alexei Navalny. |
| 12 | Ravil Maganov | 67 | Chairman of Lukoil | 1 Sep | Fell out of a window in the hospital where he was being treated for heart problems and depression | Tass news agency quoted sources saying he had fallen out of a sixth-floor window early on Thursday morning, adding later that he had taken his own life. |
| 13 | Ivan Pechorin | 39 | Director of Aviation of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV) | 10 Sep | Drowned at Cape Ignatyev, Vladivostok after falling from his boat | KRDV is President Vladimir Putin’s project for developing the country’s Arctic region’s rich energy and mining resources. |
| 14 | Vladimir Sungorkin | 68 | Editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda | 14 Sep | Suffered a stroke | Sungorkin was on a trip to “collect material for a book about the great pioneer of the Far East, Vladimir Arseniev” when he died |
| 15 | Anatoly Gerashchenko | 73 | Former Head of Moscow Aviation Institute | 21 Sep | Fell down the stairs at MAI | MAI has close connections with the Russian defense ministry, conducting aerospace research and developing technology like drones. |
| 16 | Pavel Pchelnikov | 52 | Director of Digital Logistics, a Russian Railways subsidiary | 28 Sep | Suicide; gunshot wound | Called himself “the most experienced PR manager in Russian Railways company” |
| 17 | Nikolai Mushegian | 29 | Co-founder of the crypto lending platform MakerDAO | 29 Oct | Drowned in Condado Beach, San Jan, Puerto Rico | Had mental problems; was tweeting frantically about the CIA and Mossad shortly before his death |
| 18 | Viktor Cherkesov | 72 | Former chief of the now-defunct State Drug Control Service (FKSN) and presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District | 8 Nov | No cause of death was provided, other than it followed a “serious illness” | He was Putin’s former KGB mentor and longtime ally but later became an outspoken critic. |
| 19 | Tiantian Kullander | 30 | Co-founder of Hong Kong-based Amber Group, a crypto trading platform | 23 Nov | Died in his sleep; no other details have been provided | At the time of his death, Amber Group was about to land a significant investment and was reportedly in the process of raising around US$100 million. |
| 20 | Vyacheslav Taran | 53 | Co-founder of Libertex, a foreign exchange market | 29 Nov | Helicopter crash | The only other passenger of the chopper canceled at the last minute; Life.ru, a pro-Kremlin news outlet, reported that Taran had “enemies in Russia.” |
| 21 | Grigory Kochenov | 41 | Creative director of Agima, an IT company | 7 Dec | Fell from the balcony of his apartment during a police search | Often spoke out against Russia’s war in Ukraine. |
| 22 | Dmitry Zelenov | 50 | Co-founder of Don-Stroy, a construction company | 9 Dec | Fell ill then fell down the stairs, died in the emergency room without regaining consciousness | Before his company fell under the control of Russia’s state-owned bank VTB during the 2008 financial crisis, his net worth was estimated at $1.4 billion, which put him on the Forbes list of Russian billionaires. |
| 23 | Vladimir Bidenov | 61 | Business associate and travel companion of Pavel Antov | 22 Dec | Heart attack | Has never had any heart problems prior to his death |
| 24 | Pavel Antov | 65 | Founder of Vladimir Standard, a meat processing company, and deputy (member) of the Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast | 24 Dec | Fell from his hotel room window | Richest MP in the Duma; recently criticized Putin’s war in Ukraine |
| 25 | Alexander Buzakov | 67 | Director General of the Admiralty Shipyards, which specializes in building non-nuclear submarines | 24 Dec | No cause of death was provided | Tass news agency said the shipyard is building improved Kilo-class diesel-powered submarines capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles. |
| 26 | Aleksey Maslov | 69 | Former commander in chief of Russia’s ground forces; special representative for the military corporation Uralvagonzavod, the world’s biggest tank manufacturer | 25 Dec | No cause of death was provided; died in N.N. Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital | His death comes a day after President Vladimir Putin abruptly canceled a visit to the company where he worked |
Information for this story was found via the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Views expressed within are solely that of the author. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
