Russian oligarchs continue to die mysteriously in Moscow. Two characteristics unite them: having opposed Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and directing oil companies.
The last one was Ravil Maganov, president of the oil company Lukoil, who died this Thursday according to various Russian media. The announcement of his death is also suspicious. First, his company confirmed to the TASS agency that the 67-year-old businessman had “passed away after a serious illness.”
But Novosti said shortly after that he died from injuries caused by a fall from the sixth floor of the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital. The office insinuates that the businessman committed suicide.
Investigating authorities said they were working at the scene to establish how he died. TASS later picked up the version of the fall and said it had sources claiming that he had fallen from a sixth-floor window early Thursday morning. And then he also added that he had taken his own life.
But the truth is that shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Lukoil board called for the conflict to end as soon as possible, expressing solidarity with the victims of “this tragedy,” the BBC said in reviewing his death.
And he recalled that in recent months several Russian energy oligarchs have died under mysterious circumstances.
The body of former Novatek millionaire manager Sergei Protosenya was found with his wife and daughter in a Spanish villa in April. That same month a former deputy chairman of Gazprombank, Vladislav Avayev, was found dead along with his wife and daughter in his Moscow apartment. And in May former Lukoil tycoon Alexander Subbotin died of heart failure, allegedly after seeking alternative treatment from a faith healer. All were known to oppose the invasion of Ukraine.
Lukoil is the largest private fuel processing company in Russia. In his statement, he recalled that it had become one of the largest energy companies in the world and that this was due to Maganov’s managerial talent, until now a man in Putin’s circle.
Maganov began working for the private oil company in 1993 and became president two years ago. Three years ago the Russian president decorated him for his career.
He was officially receiving treatment at the hospital on the outskirts of Moscow, known for having among its patients members of the Russian political and business elite.
