Warning: Graphic content material.
A minimum of seven Russian oligarchs near Vladimir Putin could have been murdered because the president purges his interior circle of former rich allies.
For the reason that begin of the 12 months, a number of of Putin’s cronies have died in mysterious circumstances, The Solar experiences.
However sources imagine they could have really been murdered because it’s claimed there have been similarities of their deaths.
The newest obvious sufferer was Ivan Pechorin – Putin’s level man for growing Russia’s huge Arctic sources.
He fell off the facet of a ship in waters near Russky Island in mysterious circumstances, it’s reported.
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It got here simply weeks after oil boss Ravil Maganov died after “falling from a hospital window”.
The 64-year-old, who was head of Russian oil large Lukoil, reportedly died after falling from a sixth-floor window at Moscow’s Central Clinic Hospital.
Lukoil, which had earlier criticised the conflict in Ukraine, confirmed Maganov’s dying, however bizarrely put it down as a substitute to some unknown sickness.
An image shared on-line reportedly confirmed a physique bag containing Maganov’s corpse on the bottom by the hospital wall.
The anti-Kremlin Telegram channel Basic SVR claimed that Maganov had been killed on Putin’s orders.
It was reported that his spouse was within the subsequent room on the time of his dying, and there have been no CCTV cameras pointing on the constructing on the level the place he fell.
Regulation enforcement sources reportedly mentioned that no suicide word was found on the scene.
However these are simply the newest mysterious dying among the many Kremlin’s former interior circle for the reason that run-up to the conflict in Ukraine.
On February 25 – the day after Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine – the physique of Alexander Tyulakov, a senior Gazprom monetary and safety official on the deputy common director degree – was found lifeless by his lover.
The 61-year-old’s neck was in a noose in his $850,000 (£500,000) house.
Simply three weeks prior – in the identical elite gated housing growth within the Leningrad area – Leonid Shulman, head of transport at Gazprom Make investments, was discovered lifeless.
The 60-year-old was found with a number of stab wounds in a pool of blood on his rest room flooring.
In the meantime, rich Vladislav Avayev, 51, an ex-vice-president of Gazprombank and former Kremlin official, was discovered shot lifeless in his elite Moscow penthouse.
And days later, Sergei Protosenya, 55, was discovered lifeless by hanging in Spain.
Protosenya was a former deputy chairman of Novotek, an organization intently linked to the Kremlin.
And in March, the physique of Russian billionaire Vasily Melnikov was present in his luxurious condominium with stab wounds within the metropolis of Nizhny Novgorod.
Listed here are the clues which recommend the seven could have been murdered amid fears Putin is purging his interior circle as his invasion of Ukraine continues to stall.
‘Similarities’ in deaths
A minimum of 5 of the alleged suicides have all been labelled as “suspicious” by Russian sources – together with a former FSB colonel on the Telegram messaging channel.
Writing on Mozhem Obyasnit – which suggests We Can Clarify – Gennady Gudkov claimed there have been similarities within the passing of high managers and their households from senior fuel corporations.
He claimed: “Don’t let the ‘rats’ escape, they may discuss.
“If we already perceive that the regime is engaged within the elimination of its opponents and enemies, then why will they not cope with those that are thought-about traitors who’ve fled the system.
“Many instances of [suspicious deaths] are like settling scores.”
Households discovered lifeless
Within the two most up-to-date macabre incidents, the households of the 2 oligarchs have been killed – elevating suspicions that the “suicides” had been staged.
Vladislav Avayev, 51, was discovered shot lifeless alongside along with his spouse Yelena, 47, and his 13-year-old daughter Maria at their house in Moscow.
The our bodies had been found by Avayev’s eldest daughter Anastasia, 26, alongside a complete of 13 totally different weapons.
A legislation enforcement supply mentioned {that a} gun was present in Avayev’s hand.
Kremlin analyst Olga Lautman mentioned that Avayev beforehand labored in Putin’s presidential administration, in addition to within the parliament, or Duma.
In the meantime, in a chilling echo of Avayev’s dying, Russian tycoon Sergey Protosenya, 55, his spouse Natalya, 53, and his 18-year-old daughter Maria had been found lifeless at their luxurious Spanish villa.
Protosenya, who boasted a fortune of over $566 million (£333 million), didn’t go away a suicide word earlier than allegedly hanging himself within the courtyard.
Natalia and Maria had been hacked to dying of their beds with an axe within the Lloret de Mar on Spain’s Costa Brava, in keeping with experiences.
Police discovered the ugly scene after the couple’s teenage son, who was in France on the time, raised issues.
Alleged inconsistencies on the crime scene and the coincidental dying of two fuel oligarchs and their households in a matter of days have raised suspicions.
Oligarch ‘badly crushed’ earlier than dying
Simply sooner or later after Putin invaded Ukraine, the physique of Gazprom deputy common director Alexander Tyulakov was discovered.
His hung physique was found by his lover in his $850,000 (£500,000) house in Leningrad.
However in keeping with experiences, he had been badly crushed earlier than his dying – elevating hypothesis over how he died.
Knife ‘out of attain’
In the identical gated housing growth within the Leningrad area, Leonid Shulman – head of transport at Gazprom Make investments – was discovered lifeless on January 29.
He was found with a number of stab wounds in a pool of blood on his rest room flooring.
A word was discovered, the contents of which haven’t been disclosed, and the Russian Investigative Committee reportedly refused to debate the deaths.
It’s reported a knife was discovered within the bathtub, seemingly out of attain.
‘Hyperlinks to the Kremlin’
Suspicions have been raised over the 5 deaths as they arrive amid a shake-up in possession in Russian enterprise.
The change was triggered by Western sanctions which have frozen many fortunes.
Engineer and economist Protosenya had been chief accountant of Novatek firm, the biggest unbiased producer of pure fuel in Russia, between 2002 and 2014, and later vp.
He had a fortune of $748 million (£440 million), it’s claimed.
Novatek is co-owned by shut Putin buddy Gennady Timchenko and the privileged large had been lately excluded from the Kremlin chief’s edict to commerce vitality solely in rubles.
The corporate can also be intently linked to Pyotr Kolbin, a Putin childhood buddy, allegedly a “shadow holder of Putin’s wealth”.
“So, below unusual and related circumstances, the households of managers of two key personal corporations managing the cash of Putin’s entourage died,” said Mozhem Obyasnit.
‘Battle to imagine’
In March, the our bodies of Russian billionaire Vasily Melnikov and his spouse and two sons had been found in his luxurious condominium within the metropolis of Nizhny Novgorod, 250 miles east of Moscow.
All died from stab wounds, in keeping with the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
The paper quoted police investigators, who mentioned they’d decided that Melnikov killed his household earlier than committing suicide.
Nonetheless, neighbours and kin have since come ahead and mentioned they wrestle to imagine Melnikov may have accomplished one thing so evil.
The businessman had been an government at medical agency MedStom, which had suffered significantly on account of financial sanctions positioned on Russia within the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, in keeping with Ukrainian publication Glavred.
Putin critic discovered lifeless
Early in March, only a week into the conflict, police in Surrey had been known as to the luxury home of a Ukrainian enterprise tycoon Mikhail Watford.
The 66-year-old was discovered hanged at his £18m house on the unique Wentworth Property in Virginia Water.
A neighbour of Mikhail claimed he had instructed her that Putin had put him on a success record.
She additionally mentioned Mr Watford, generally known as Misha, had been a pal of Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, discovered hanged at his house in Ascot, Berks, in 2013.
Mr Watford instructed her Berezovsky had been murdered by an intelligence company. The neighbour went on: “I discover it arduous to imagine that Misha would have taken his personal life. It doesn’t add up.”
This story was printed by The Solar and reproduced with permission.
Initially printed as Chilling clues that seven Russian oligarchs had been murdered on the orders of paranoid Vladimir Putin
