Following the death of the chairman of the board of Russia's largest private oil company in what Russian news agencies described as an accidental fall from a hospital window, questions were raised once more about whether suspicious deaths among Russian oligarchs and critics of President Vladimir Putin have become far too common to be entirely coincidental.
Initially, his company Lukoil claimed Ravil Maganov "died following a serious illness" on Thursday, but provided no additional information.
Putin Allegedly Orders To Kill Seven Russian Oligarchs
According to later Russian news reports, his corpse was discovered on the grounds of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, where Russia's political and financial elite are frequently treated.
According to sources, Maganov looked to have fallen from a sixth-story window. Other reports claim he stumbled and fell while smoking, and a pack of cigarettes was discovered near the window. Investigators are also looking into the potential of suicide.
Lukoil was one of the few Russian firms to officially demand an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, asking for the "prompt termination of the armed war" in March. Maganov was not the only Lukoil executive to die under strange circumstances since the Kremlin launched a full-scale offensive against its western neighbor in late February, as per Yahoo.
In May, Aleksandr Subbotin, a former senior manager, was discovered dead in the basement of a home in a Moscow suburb. According to Russian media, the residence belonged to Shaman Magua, a self-proclaimed healer who practiced purification rites.
Subbotin, according to Magua, came to his residence under the influence of alcohol and drugs and asked that the healer, whose true name is Aleksei Pindurin, conduct a hangover curing ceremony. According to investigators, the preliminary reason of Subbotin's death was heart failure.
However, it was Ravil Maganov's death that drew the media's attention, as it was the latest in a spate of unintentional self-defenestrations and other strange deaths of persons who either gained from Putin's good connections or were a thorn in his side - or both.
At least six more Russian oligarchs have died in mysterious circumstances since the crisis in Ukraine began. All had tight ties to the Kremlin, vast riches, a connection to Russian gas, and an anti-war posture toward Ukraine. International investigators are beginning to suspect that these deaths were staged suicides or killings in response to their position on the Kremlin's assault towards Ukraine or their ties to corruption in the Russian gas corporation Gazprom.
According to others, they may have been killed since their deaths resembled one another. An anti-Kremlin Telegram channel General SVR claims that Maganov was murdered on Putin's instructions. Law enforcement officials stated that no suicide note was located at the location. However, they are only the latest strange deaths among the Kremlin's former inner circle since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
Alexander Tyulakov, a top Gazprom finance and security executive at the deputy general director level, was discovered dead by his lover on February 25 - the day after Putin sent his forces into Ukraine. Just three weeks previously, Leonid Shulman, chief of transport at Gazprom Invest, was discovered dead in the same luxury gated housing estate in the Leningrad area.
The 60-year-old was discovered in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor with several stab wounds. Meanwhile, affluent Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Gazprombank vice president and Kremlin official, was discovered shot dead in his posh Moscow penthouse. Sergey Protosenya, 55, was discovered dead by hanging in Spain a few days later. Protosenya was a former vice chairman of Novotek, a Kremlin-connected corporation.
Russian Lawmakers Urge Putin To Resign
In March, the death of Russian businessman Vasily Melnikov was discovered in his fancy residence in Nizhny Novgorod with stab wounds. Here are the clues that imply the seven were murdered, amid suspicions that Putin is purging his closest circle as his invasion of Ukraine stalls.
Russian sources, including a former FSB colonel on the Telegram chat channel, have all labeled at least five of the purported suicides as "suspicious." Gennady Gudkov said on Mozhem Obyasnit - which means We Can Explain - that there were similarities in the deaths of top managers and their families from prominent gas corporations, The Sun reported.
Some local lawmakers have signed a petition demanding Vladimir Putin quit, and his terrifying Chechen loyalist friend, the LORD or Ramzan Kadyrov, has "warned" that he may be "forced to meet with the leadership."
Two groups of municipal officials from Moscow, St Petersburg (Putin's hometown), and Kolpino signed petitions calling for Putin's resignation last week. On Monday, September 12, a third group of St Petersburg legislators joined the demand, as per DailyO.
Related Article: Xi Jinping Set To Leave China To Meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Battle for Domination Over West
@YouTube
