The yellow grows around the oligarchs Russians recent deaths. Just last week, 48 hours apart, two were found lifeless along with their families: in apparent murder-suicides. But they’re not the only ones who have died since early 2022. Four other oligarchs have disappeared. And what’s even more sobering is that most of the deaths occurred after Russia has invadedUkraine on February 24th.
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Dead oligarchs, who are they
Former Gazprom officials, a medical equipment contractor and a vice president of a natural gas company. These are the offices of the Russian oligarchs found dead around the world in 2022. They are Sergey Protosenya, Vladislav Avayev, Vasily Melnikov, Mikhail Watford, Alexander Tyulyakov and Leonid Shulman. From Moscow to Spain to the UK, multi-millionaires were everywhere. And it’s not the first time so many deaths have occurred in a short space of time. In 2017, USA Today issued a report that found 38 high-profile Russians died or missing over a three-year period. It is not uncommon for opponents and critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin to be murdered, disappeared or imprisoned.
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Sergey Protosenya, the multi-millionaire found hanged in Spain
Sergey Protosenya, a multimillionaire with an estimated fortune of over 400 million euros, was found hanged 20th of April in front of a Spanish villa he had rented with his family for Easter. The bodies of his wife and 18-year-old daughter were found stabbed to death in their beds. The son, who was in France, rules out the hypothesis of a murder suicide: even if it is one of the roads currently traveled by local investigators.
⚡️ In Spain ex-top manager of #NOVATEK Sergey Protosenya was found dead along with his wife and daughter.
The bodies of three people were found in a house in the resort of Lloret de Mar on Tuesday April 19.
Conicidence? I do not think so.#Ukraine #Europe #StopRussia pic.twitter.com/YeqcwWPvcF– Mattias – 💙🌻💛 (@MattiasSvea) April 21, 2022
Vladislav Avayev, the former Kremlin official, was found dead in Moscow
Vladislav Avayev, former Vice President of Gazprombank and former Kremlin official, was found dead a day earlier (April 19th) in his Moscow apartment along with the bodies of his wife and 13-year-old daughter. Next to him is a gun that is said to have killed his wife and daughter. It is worth remembering that Gazprombank is the third largest bank in Russia and is affiliated with Gazprom, the world’s largest publicly traded natural gas company.
Former vice president of Russia’s Gazprombank, his wife and daughter found dead in Moscow.
Preliminary investigations assume that 50-year-old Vladislav Avayev killed his wife and 13-year-old daughter and later committed suicide. pic.twitter.com/EwzWqE0r7h
– Free Ukraine (@Mihoflowersy) April 18, 2022
Vasily Melnikov and the collapse of his society after the war
And now we go back in time. Exactly A early March, when Russian billionaire Vasily Melnikov and his family were all found dead in their luxury apartment in Nizhny Novgorod. Melnikov died from stab wounds along with his wife and two young children (according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant). The knives used in the murders were found at the scene. News 84 Media reported that Melnikov’s company Medstom, which imports medical equipment to Russia, was on the verge of collapse after Western sanctions were imposed in response to the war in Ukraine.
Businessman Vasily Melnikov, owner of the Medstom company, was murdered along with his family #Nizhny Novgorod.
The businessman, his wife and two minor children were stabbed to death in their own home. An investigation is underway. A contract killing is not excluded. pic.twitter.com/Rw8IlqGRnp
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 23, 2022
Mikhail Watford, the Ukrainian-born tycoon who died in Britain
And the February 28th when Ukrainian-born oligarch Mikhail Watford is found dead in the garage of his home in Surrey, UK. Surrey Police are investigating the death but said they do not believe it was a homicide. According to the BBC, the Russian businessman made his millions as an oil and gas magnate after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Alexander Tyulyakov, deputy director of Gazprom, allegedly committed suicide
Also in February, three days before Watford’s death and one day after Russia invaded Ukraine, a deputy director general of Gazprom’s finance department was found hanged in the garage of a country house in Lenisky, Russia. This is Alexander Tyulyakov. Tyulyakov, 61, had worked at Gazprom for about 10 years, previously overseeing corporate security and human resources.
Leonid Shulman, the executive investigating fraud
That January 30thAbout a month before Russia invaded Ukraine, another Gazprom executive died in the Lenisky district, known as a haven for Russian executives. Leonid Shulman, 60, was found dead in his cottage bathroom next to what appeared to be a suicide note, according to Novaya Gazeta. In the note, Shulman complained of excruciating pain in his leg, which he injured over the New Year holidays. According to Fortune, Shulman was in the middle of a Gazprom fraud investigation.