Suspicious Russia-related deaths since 2022
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Since the beginning of 2022, numerous Russia-related people, particularly businessmen and officials, have died under what some sources suggest were suspicious circumstances.[1][2][3][4] Incidents include individuals who have suspiciously fallen out of windows, killed themselves, and died unexpectedly in accidents.
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Analysis
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On 3 June 2022 the Dutch NOS news network described the phenomenon as "a grim series of Russian billionaires, many from the oil and gas industries, who have been found dead under unusual circumstances since early this year. The first was on 30 January, when 60-year-old Leonid Shulman, transport chief for Russian energy giant Gazprom, was found dead in the bathroom of his country house in the Leningrad region. Beside his body was a suicide note."[4] On 6 July 2022, CNN Portugal described the group as "millionaires with direct or indirect links to the Kremlin found dead in a mystery scenario since the beginning of the year".[5] It referred to a previous investigation by USA Today, which concluded that "38 Russian businessmen and oligarchs close to the Kremlin died in mysterious or suspicious circumstances between 2014 and 2017."[5] The phenomenon has been called "sudden Russian death syndrome" or "sudden oligarch death syndrome", a play on sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.[6][7] A number of them died by falling from heights, including possible defenestrations.[7]
Some commentators ruled out suicides or poor health.[8] Other commentators, including Fiona Hill and Mark Galeotti, are skeptical of such conspiracies.[8] They point out the deaths are not necessarily all connected, and that it is far more likely some really are suicides, and some could be killings by competing influential clans to wipe out competitors without a centralized Kremlin effort.
The suicide rate in Russia is the third-highest in the world,[8] and similar trends have been noted in 2020 about doctors who have treated COVID-19 patients falling from high windows.[8] Suicides could be further increased especially in the Russian business community due to substantial pressure from the war in Ukraine and international sanctions.[8]
Calls for further investigations
Friends and families of the deceased Russian businessmen generally found it "unthinkable" that they killed themselves – and in some cases also their wives and children – and have demanded an independent investigation into the mysterious deaths.[4] Igor Volobuyev, the Ukrainian-born ex-vice-chairman of Gazprombank, who left Russia during the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and joined the Freedom of Russia Legion,[9][10] said in an interview with The Insider that he thought that his former colleague Vladislav Avayev's alleged murder of his family and subsequent suicide had been staged: "Why? That is difficult to say. Perhaps he knew something and posed some kind of danger."[4][11] Likewise, Sergey Protosenya's son, who was not in Spain when his parents and sister were found dead in Lloret de Mar, stated his father was not the perpetrator ("my father is not a murderer"), but that his parents and sister were murdered by someone else.[4] Protosenya was the former CEO of gas giant Novatek, which published a statement saying he was "a real family man", and called on the Spanish authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.[4]
Businessman and critic of the Russian federal government Bill Browder has opined that Putin is personally ordering executions of influential business leaders in critical sectors whom he feels will not be yes-men and intimidates their successors with threats of death or violence.[12] In Russian mokroye delo or “wet work” is the name given to the business of assassination with people told to commit suicide or they and their families will receive a visitation.[6]
According to an investigative report by Novaya Gazeta, some of the deaths may be connected to large scale accounting fraud by Gazprom executives, who may have funneled money to a network of businesses owned by friends and family members with ties to the FSB and Russian military.[13]
Suspicious deaths
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2022
| Name | Age at death | Position | Date of death | Count of deaths | Place body was discovered | Circumstances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | ||||||
| Leonid Shulman | 60 | Director of Transport of Gazprom[14][5][4] | 30 January 2022 | 1 |  Bathroom of a residence in Leningrad Oblast[4] |
Suicide note found next to his body.[4] |
| February | ||||||
| Igor Nosov | 43 | CEO of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV) and former Deputy governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast | 8 February 2022 | 1 | Moscow |
Reportedly suffered a stroke.[15] |
| Alexander Tyulakov | 61 | Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center of Gazprom[14][5][4] | 25 February 2022 | 1 | Garage of a residence in Saint Petersburg[4] |
Suicide note found on his body.[4] |
| Mikhail Watford | 66 | Businessman[14][16][5][4] | 28 February 2022 | 1 |  Garage of a residence in Surrey, England[4] |
British authorities have not found evidence of a crime.[4] |
| March | ||||||
| Vasily Melnikov | 43 | CEO and owner of Medstorm[14][5][4] | 23 March 2022 | 4 | Apartment in Nizhny Novgorod[4] |
Wife and two sons found dead beside him.[4] |
| April | ||||||
| Vladislav Avayev | 51 | Former Vice President of Gazprombank[14][5][17] | 18 April 2022 | 3 | Apartment in Moscow[4] |
Wife and 13-year-old daughter found dead beside him.[4] |
| Sergey Protosenya | 55 | Former Deputy Chairman of Novatek.[14][5][17][4] | 19 April 2022 | 3 |  Garden of a residence in Lloret de Mar, Spain[4] |
Hanged from a handrail;[18] wife and daughter found dead in their beds with blunt axe wounds[18] and stab wounds.[4] |
| May | ||||||
| Andrei Krukovsky | 37 | General Director of the Estosadok Krasnaya Polyana, a ski resort owned by Gazprom[5][17] | 1 May 2022 | 1 | Below a cliff near the Achipse Fortress in Sochi[5][17] |
Reportedly fell off a cliff while hiking to Achipse Fortress.[17] |
| Alexander Subbotin | 43 | Board member of Lukoil[19][5] | 8 May 2022 | 1 | Basement of a Jamaican shaman's residence in Moscow[4] |
Reportedly died from a drug-induced heart attack during a shamanic ritual, though critics allege toad poison.[4] |
| June | ||||||
| Alexei Ogarev | 64 | Former senior Kremlin official, diplomat, arms dealer and oil business executive | 16 June 2022 | 1 | Rublevka, Russia |
Found dead.[20][21][22] |
| Yevgeniy Palant | 47 | Telephone mogul and philanthropist | 27 June 2022 | 2 | Zarechye, Russia |
Found dead together with his wife Olga with multiple stab wounds.[23][24][25] |
| July | ||||||
| Yuri Voronov | 61 | CEO of Astra Shipping, a subcontractor of Gazprom[5] | 4 July 2022 | 1 | Swimming pool of a residence in Leningrad Oblast[5] |
Gunshot wounds to the head, pistol found next to his body.[5] |
| August | ||||||
| Dan Rapoport | 52 | Businessman[26] | 14 August 2022 | 1 |  2400 M Street NW, Washington, D.C., United States |
Found in the street after an apparent fall from his high rise apartment building.[26] |
| September | ||||||
| Ravil Maganov | 67 | Chair of Lukoil[5] | 1 September 2022 | 1 | Below a window of the Kremlin Hospital, Moscow[27] |
Reportedly hospitalised for heart problems and depression, then "fell out of a window".[27][28] |
| Ivan Pechorin | 39 | Director of Aviation of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV) | 10 September 2022[29][30] | 1 | On a beach in Beregovoy, Amur Oblast |
Drowned at Cape Ignatyev, Vladivostok; body found washed up in Beregovoy two days later;[30] allegedly fell from his boat.[31] |
| Vladimir Sungorkin [ru] | 68 | Editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda | 14 September 2022[32] | 1 | Roshchino, Khabarovsky District, Khabarovsk Krai |
Reportedly suffered a stroke and suffocated while on the way to lunch,[32] his deputy would die a year later.[33] |
| Anatoly Gerashchenko [ru] | 72 | Former Head of the Moscow Aviation Institute | 21 September 2022[34][35] | 1 | Stairway within the Moscow Aviation Institute[34][35] |
Reportedly fell down a flight of stairs inside the institute.[34][35] |
| Pavel Pchelnikov | 52 | Director of Digital Logistics, a Russian Railways subsidiary[36][37] | 28 September 2022[37] | 1 | On the balcony of an apartment in Moscow[36][37] |
Allegedly shot himself on the balcony of his apartment.[36][37] |
| October | ||||||
| Nikolay Petrunin | 46 | Deputy of the State Duma | 12 October 2022 | 1 | Unnamed hospital in Moscow |
Alleged complications of COVID-19.[38][39] |
| November | ||||||
| Colonel Vadim Boyko | 44 | Deputy head of the Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School, involved in mobilization efforts | 16 November 2022 | 1 | Office at Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School, Vladivostok |
Reportedly died by suicide after shooting himself in the chest five times.[40][41] |
| Vyacheslav Taran | 53 | Co-founder of Libertex, a cryptocurrency and foreign exchange market company | 25 November 2022[42] | 1 |  Villefranche-sur-Mer, French Riviera, France |
Died in helicopter crash after taking off from Switzerland.[43] |
Vladimir Makei  |
64 | Foreign Minister of Belarus (2012–2022) | 26 November 2022 | 1 | Unknown, likely Minsk, Belarus |
Reported to have died four days after returning from a Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Armenia accompanying representatives of Vladimir Putin.[44] He was said by his friends to have been "painfully upset" by the collapse of the course he was leading.[45] |
| December | ||||||
| Grigory Kochenov | 41 | Creative Director of Agima, an IT company | 7 December 2022 | 1 | Volodarsky Street, Nizhny Novgorod |
Reportedly fell to his death from his balcony while officials from the Investigative Committee executed a search warrant for his apartment.[46] |
| Dmitriy Zelenov | 50 | Co-founder of Donstroy, a construction company | 9 December 2022 | 1 | Antibes, French Riviera, France |
Reportedly felt ill and fell over a railing and hit his head, later died in hospital without regaining consciousness.[47][48] |
| Vladimir Bidenov | 61 | Business associate and travel companion of Pavel Antov | 22 December 2022 | 1 |  Hotel Sai International, Rayagada, Odisha, India |
Died of heart problems; two days later his close companion, Pavel Antov, also died at the same hotel under suspicious circumstances.[49][50] |
| Alexander Buzakov | 66 | Director General of the Admiralty Shipyards | 24 December 2022 | 1 | Saint Petersburg |
Died suddenly the day after he attended the float-out ceremony of the new Lada class submarine Velikie Luki. No explanation was given on the cause of death.[51] |
| Pavel Antov | 65 | Founder of Vladmirsky Standart, a meat processing company, and deputy (member) of the Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast | 1 | Below a window of Hotel Sai International, Rayagada, Odisha, India |
Fell out of window from Hotel Sai International;[52] another Russian colleague, Vladimir Bidenov, died in the same hotel two days prior.[53][54] | |
| Alexei Maslov | 69 | Former Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces and special representative of Uralvagonzavod.[55][56] | 1 | Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital, Moscow[citation needed] |
Died "unexpectedly" in a military hospital, no cause given.[55] | |
| Vladimir Nesterov | 73 | Director General of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center | 28 December 2022[57] | 1 | Unknown | |
2023
| Name | Age at death | Position | Date of death | Count of deaths | Place body was discovered | Circumstances | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | |||||||
| Magomed Abdulaev | 61 | Former Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Dagestan | 5 January 2023 | 1 | Makhachkala, Dagestan |
Died at a hospital after being hit by a car while crossing a street.[58] | |
| Dmitry Pavochka | 49 | Former manager of Roscosmos, Sukhoi, Lukoil, Bank Menatep and Russdragmet, while presently or formerly involved with many others. | 26 January 2023 | 1 | 17th floor of a building on Leningradsky Avenue, Moscow |
Burned alive after falling asleep with a lit cigarette.[59] | |
| February | |||||||
| Vladimir Makarov | 72 | Former Deputy Chief of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Extremism. | 13 February 2023 | 1 | At his suburban home northwest of Moscow |
State-run TASS news agency reported him found dead, in an apparent suicide, following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin.[60][61] | |
| Marina Yankina | 58 | Head of Finance and Procurement of the Western Military District | 16 February 2023 | 1 | House on Zamshina Street, St. Petersburg |
Found dead after falling from a window on the 16th-floor of a high-rise building.[62][63][64] | |
| Viatcheslav Rovneiko | 59 | Oil magnate, co-founder of Urals Energy, co-owner of Belgian oil company Nafta (B) NV, director of Interregional Fuel Union; ex-KGB spy. | 22 February 2023 | 1 | Unspecified gated village near Moscow |
Found unconscious in his house; subsequent medical help could not save his life.[65][66] | |
| April | |||||||
| Igor Shkurko | 49 | Deputy director of Yakutskenergo. | 4 April 2023 | 1 | Pre-trial detention center in Yakutsk |
Found dead in his cell; allegedly suicide.[67] | |
| May | |||||||
| Pyotr Kucherenko | 46 | State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation | 20 May 2023 | 1 | Mineralnye Vody Airport, Stavropol Krai |
Died after falling ill on board a flight from Cuba to Russia.[68][69][70] | |
| June | |||||||
| Yuri Demin | 62 | Former head of the State Inspectorate for Road Safety for the Sverdlovsk Oblast | 4 June 2023 | 1 | Sysert, Sverdlovsk Oblast |
Found dead after falling from the second floor of his dacha during construction work.[71] | |
| Artyom Bartenev | 42 | Federal Judge of the Kirovsky District Court | 8 June 2023 | 1 | Underneath his apartment in Kazan, Tatarstan |
Found dead after falling 12 stories from his apartment window.[71][72] | |
| Grigory Klinishov | 92 | Physicist and co-creator of the Soviet hydrogen bomb RDS-37. | 17 June 2023 | 1 | Inside his apartment in Moscow |
Found dead in his apartment from an apparent suicide, leaving a note.[73][74] | |
| Kristina Baikova | 28 | Vice-president of Loko-Bank, head of department for work with corporate clients. | 24 June 2023 | 1 | Underneath her apartment in Khodynsky Boulevard, Moscow |
Fell off her apartment at the 11th floor; circumstances of the incident have not yet been clarified.[75] | |
| July | |||||||
| Andrei Fomin | 57 | Prosecutor of Chuvashia (since 2020) | 1 July 2023 | 1 | In the Volga river near Cheboksary |
Fell ill while swimming in the Volga river and drowned.[76][77] | |
| Aleksey Avramenko | 46 | Minister of Transport and Communications of Belarus (since 2019) | 4 July 2023 | 1 | Unknown | Died suddenly.[78][79] | |
| Alexander Nikolayev | 72 | Former Consul General of Russia to Crimea, and former Ambassador of Russia to Bangladesh | July 2023 | 1 | Konakovo, Tver Oblast |
Beaten up near his home and died three weeks later.[80][81] | |
| Natalia Bochkareva | 44 | Daughter of former Governor of Penza Oblast Vasily Bochkarev. Managed her family's lumber-processing and bakery businesses | 14 July 2023 | 1 | Moscow |
Found dead inside her apartment.[82] | |
| Anton Cherepennikov | 40 | Billionaire owner and head of state-affiliated company Citadel specializing in digital wiretapping equipment and telecommunications monitoring technology, sanctioned by the US in February 2023[83] | 22 July 2023 | 1 | Moscow |
Found dead in his office.[84] | |
| August | |||||||
| Gennady Lopyrev | 69 | Former lieutenant-general in the Federal Protective Service and overseer of construction projects including Putin's palace. | 16 August 2023 | 1 | IK-3 prison colony, Ryazan Oblast |
Imprisoned in the IK-3 prison in 2017 for taking bribes, charges he denied in 2016. Died of leukemia two days after diagnosis. News agencies reported no previous signs of the illness.[85] | |
| Yevgeny Prigozhin | 62 | Russian oligarch, mercenary, Wagner Group co-founder and leader, and former close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until he launched a brief rebellion on 23 June 2023, exactly two months prior. | 23 August 2023 | 10 | Kuzhenkino, Bologovsky District, Tver Oblast |
An Embraer Legacy 600 business jet with registration number RA-02795 crashed during a regular high-altitude flight from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.[86][87] Prigozhin, Utkin, and Chekalov were killed along with two Wagner veterans, two bodyguards, and the three flight staff.[88] According to Wagner Group, the plane was shot down by air defenses,[89] however according to the US government and aviation experts, the plane was downed by a bomb onboard or other sabotage.[90][91][92][93][94][89] | |
| Dmitry Utkin | 53 | Former special forces officer in the GRU, co-founder of Wagner Group, recipient of four Orders of Courage of Russia. | |||||
| Valery Chekalov | 47 | Russian Navy veteran, Wagner Group's head of security and foreign logistics that managed several front companies to coordinate activities in Libya and Syria. | |||||
| October | |||||||
| Vladimir Nekrasov | 66 | Chairman of Lukoil | October | 1 | Died of acute heart failure.[95] | ||
| November | |||||||
| Vladimir Sviridov | 68 | Former lieutenant-general of the 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army | November 2023 | 2 | Andzhievsky, Stavropol Krai |
Found dead at home with his wife.[96][97] | |
| December | |||||||
| Anna Tsavera | 35 | Deputy editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda | "early" December | 1 | Moscow |
Found dead in her apartment, her boss Vladimir Sungorkin died suddenly the year prior.[98][99] | |
| Evgeny Postrigan | 50 | Chief accountant at sanctioned Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev | December 2023 | 1 | Zheleznogorsk, Siberia |
Found dead at the garage of his property, cause of death asphyxiation.[100] | |
| Vladimir Egorov | 46 | Deputy of the Tobolsk City Duma | 27 December 2023 | 1 | Tobolsk, Tyumen Oblast |
Found dead in the yard of his home from suspected three-story fall from building.[101] | |
2024
| Name | Age at death | Position | Date of death | Count of deaths | Place body was discovered | Circumstances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | ||||||
| Zoya Konovalova | 48 | Editor-in-chief of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Kuban | 5 January 2024 | 2 | Krasnodar Krai |
Died alongside her ex-husband in a suspected poisoning incident.[102] |
| Alexander Rybin | 39 | Russian journalist; freelanced for pro-Kremlin media while also working for pro-democratic platform Rabkor. | 6 January 2024 | 1 | Shakhty |
Body was found dead near a highway.[103][104] |
| February | ||||||
| Ivan Sechin | 35 | Employee of Rosneft. Son and heir apparent of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin | 5 February 2024 | 1 | Moscow |
Complained of kidney pain at his home mansion overnight and died within hours after ambulances failed to arrive in time, due to the security service providing the wrong address. Cause of death officially diagnosed as a blood clot. His father, Igor Sechin, blamed the Rosneft security service. The Daily Beast called it "bizarre circumstances".[105] |
| Maxim Kuzminov | 28 | Pilot | 13 February 2024 | 1 | After defecting to Ukraine, he was shot dead in Spain.[106] | |
| Alexei Navalny | 47 | Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist | 16 February 2024 | 1 | Kharp Yamalia |
Federal Penitentiary Service stated that he had died in prison in Yamalo-Nenets in Western Siberia after taking a walk and feeling unwell that morning.[107][108] |
| Andrey Morozov | 44 | Military blogger and war correspondent, former military combatant | 21 February 2024 | 1 | After posting about Russian casualties in the Battle of Avdiivka to his Telegram channel, Morozov deleted the post, claiming to be under orders by military command. The next day, he posted a suicide note blaming Vladimir Solovyov and killed himself by firearm.[109] | |
| March | ||||||
| Vitaly Robertus | 53 | Vice president of Lukoil | 13 March 2024 | 1 | Moscow |
Reportedly committed suicide. He was found hanged in his Moscow office on 13 March 2024.[110][111][112] |
| May | ||||||
| Aleksandr Surikov | 68 | Ambassador of Russia to Mozambique | 11 May 2024 | 1 |  Maputo |
Found dead at his home. Russian authorities denied a request for an autopsy from Maputo Central Hospital. An unsubstantiated report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via TASS listed the preliminary cause of death as a stroke.[113][114] |
| June | ||||||
| Natalia Larina | 50 | Former judge of Moscow’s Tagansky District Court, involved in high-profile political cases | 5 June 2024 | 1 | Moscow |
Found dead after falling from her apartment in a high-rise building in Moscow 2024.[115] |
| Dzianis Sidarenka |
48 | Ambassador of Belarus to Germany | 24 June 2024 | 1 | Minsk |
Found dead after falling out of a window after interrogation, suspected suicide.[116] |
| July | ||||||
| Valentina Bondarenko | 82 | Economist at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences | 23 July 2024 | 1 | Moscow |
Found dead after falling out of the window of her Moscow-area apartment building.[117] |
| Georgy Chibisov | 44 | Marketing Director of the Moscow Exchange | 27 July 2024 | 1 | Moskva river near Moscow |
Found drowned in the river after falling off of a cruise ship while trying to use its diving platform alone.[118] |
| September | ||||||
| Victoria Roshchyna | 27 | Ukrainian freelance journalist for Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Free Europe,[119] and Hromadske.[120] Reported on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Siege of Mariupol. | 19 September 2024 | 1 | Russia |
Died in Russian detention, reportedly while being transferred to Moscow from a prison in Taganrog as part of a prisoner swap.[121] |
| October | ||||||
| Mikhail Rogachev | 64 | Former vice president of Yukos, former executive director of ONEXIM Group, former deputy general director of Norilsk Nickel | 20 October 2024 | 1 | Moscow |
Found dead after falling out of the window of his Moscow-area apartment building.[122] |
| November | ||||||
| Alexei Zimin | 52 | TV Chef and restaurant owner | 13 November 2024 | 1 |  Belgrade |
Found dead in his hotel room. Zimin had previously criticised Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He spent his final years exiled in the UK.[123] |
| Vladimir Shklyarov | 39 | Ballet dancer | 16 November 2024 | 1 | St. Petersburg |
Fell from the fifth floor of his apartment building, reportedly trying to escape from his apartment. In 2022, he had strongly criticized Putin's war in Ukraine in a social media post.[124] |
2025
| Name | Age at death | Position | Date of death | Count of deaths | Place body was discovered | Circumstances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||||
| Vadim Stroykin | 59 | Musician | 5 February 2025 | 1 | St. Petersburg |
Fell out a ninth-floor window of his apartment, while being investigated by security services for donating to the Ukrainian army.[125] |
See also
- Russian military commissariats attacks
- Russian mystery fires (2022–present)
- 2023 Wagner Group rebellion
- 2023 Wagner Group plane crash
- List of journalists killed in Russia
- List of Russian generals killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- List of Soviet assassinations
- List of Russian assassinations
- Political prisoners in Russia
- Poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services
- Russian apartment bombings
- Assassinations and assassination attempts
- Assassination attempts on Volodymyr Zelenskyy
- Assassination of Anna Politkovskaya (7 October 2006)
- Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko (1 November 2006)
- Murder of Yuriy Chervochkin (22 November 2007)
- Assassination of Boris Nemtsov (27 February 2015)
- Assassination of Pavel Sheremet (20 July 2016)
- Shooting of Denis Voronenkov (23 March 2017)
- Assassination of Maksym Shapoval (27 June 2017)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal (4 March 2018)
- Poisoning of Pyotr Verzilov (12 September 2018)
- Poisoning of Alexei Navalny (20 August 2020)
References
External links
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