Third executive at Russian oil giant that criticised Putin’s invasion of Ukraine dies suddenly

Another CEO of Russia’s second-largest oil company has died mysteriously – the third Lukoil tycoon to die under suspicious circumstances in a year and a half.

Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, chairman of Lukoil’s board of directors, died ‘suddenly’, with Russian state media reporting doctors’ ‘preliminary’ conclusion that Nekrasov was suffering from ‘acute heart failure’.

His death follows that of Ravil Maganov, 67, at the Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin Clinic, in September last year.

Officially, Maganov was in hospital for a long-term heart problem, fell from a sixth-floor window and died on the spot.

That same morning, Putin – who had earlier decorated Maganov with the highest honor – entered the hospital to pay his last respects to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who had died the same week.

Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, also linked to energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May after ‘seek[ing]advice from shamans’.

One theory is that Subbotin – who also owned a shipping company – was poisoned by toad poison, causing a heart attack.

Vladimir Nekrasov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lukoil (R) pictured with Dmitry Medvedev (L)

Lukoil Vice President Ravil Maganov (R), pictured with Vladimir Putin (L)

Lukoil CEO Alexander Subbotin

Lukoil initially seemed less than loyal to Putin when the war began and demanded negotiations to end the fighting.

A week after the fighting, the company’s board, consisting of both Nekrasov and Maganov, released a statement on Putin’s invasion, expressing “its concern about the ongoing tragic events in Ukraine and expressing its deepest condolences to all those who affected by this tragedy.

“We are in favor of an early cessation of the armed conflict and fully support its resolution through the negotiation process and diplomatic means.”

There are claims of ‘creeping nationalization’ at Lukoil.

Nekrasov – who had been honored by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev – had taken over as chairman from Maganov.

At the time, he was the vice president of Lukoil and had previously received the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th degree.

Nekrasov, who had two separate EU passports, for Austria and the Czech Republic, as well as his Russian citizenship, avoided sanctions from the West over the war.

Since the start of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, there has been a wave of deaths among prominent Russians linked to the energy and financial sectors.

In April, wealthy Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Kremlin official, among others, appeared to have committed suicide after killing his wife Yelena, 47, and daughter, 13.

He had high-level ties to the leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank.

Friends have disputed reports that he was jealous after his wife admitted she was pregnant by their driver.

It is alleged that he had access to the financial secrets of the Kremlin elite.

Just days later, multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in Spain after allegedly killing his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter Maria, with an ax in a gruesome murder-suicide.

He was a former vice chairman of Novatek, a company also closely linked to the Kremlin.

As with Avayev, it is suggested that this may have been a murder that appeared to be a murder-suicide.

Yevgeny Palant, 47, a mobile phone multimillionaire, and his wife Olga, 50, both born in Ukraine, were found with multiple knife wounds by their daughter Polina, 20.

Former Kremlin official and Gazprombank vice-president Vladislav Avayev, 51, appeared to have committed suicide after killing his wife and one of his daughters in April.

Russian gas magnate Sergey Protosenya (pictured), his wife Natalya, 53, and their teenage daughter Maria were found dead in their Spanish country home

Ukrainian-born multimillionaire Yevgeny Palant, 47, and his wife Olga Palant, 50, were found stabbed to death in their family home in the Moscow region.

Other notable dark deaths among Russian elites include Dmitry Zelenov, a real estate magnate, who died on December 9 in the French Riviera city of Antibes.

The circumstances surrounding the real estate magnate’s death are remarkably similar to those of Anatoly Gerashchenko, the former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), who is said to have fallen down the stairs at the institute’s headquarters in the Russian capital in September.

“On September 21, 2022, Anatoly Nikolaevich Gerashchenko, doctor of technical sciences, professor and advisor to the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute, died as a result of an accident,” the organization’s press service said.

‘This is a colossal loss for the MAI and the scientific and educational community.’

MAI is one of Russia’s leading scientific research universities responsible for the development of aerospace technology and is closely linked to Putin’s Ministry of Defense.

Gerashchenko, 73, worked at the institute all his life, studying at university as an engineer before working his way up to run the operation for eight years.

He had received the Russian Medal of the Order for Services to the Fatherland, First Class, and was a distinguished professor with more than 50 scientific publications who remained as an influential advisor after his retirement in 2015.

The 50-year-old oligarch was having dinner with some friends when he started feeling unwell and fell down the stairs, suffering serious head injuries, according to Russian news channel Baza and the local French newspaper. Var Matin.

He was rushed to hospital, but doctors were unable to save him and his death was confirmed the next day by the public prosecutor in the nearby municipality of Grasse.

Russian oligarch Dmitry Zelenov died in France after reportedly falling down a flight of stairs

Anatoly Gerashchenko, former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), has reportedly slipped and fallen down the stairs at the institute’s headquarters in the Russian capital.

Ivan Pechorin (L), chief of Vladimir Putin’s Arctic development, died after ‘fell overboard’ into the sea from a boat near Vladivostok. Igor Nosov (R), CEO of the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, also died in his early 40s, reportedly of a “stroke”

The circumstances surrounding the real estate magnate’s death are remarkably similar to those of Anatoly Gerashchenko, the former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), who is said to have fallen down the stairs at the institute’s headquarters in the Russian capital in September.

“On September 21, 2022, Anatoly Nikolaevich Gerashchenko, doctor of technical sciences, professor and advisor to the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute, died as a result of an accident,” the organization’s press service said.

‘This is a colossal loss for the MAI and the scientific and educational community.’

MAI is one of Russia’s leading scientific research universities responsible for the development of aerospace technology and is closely linked to Putin’s Ministry of Defense.

Gerashchenko, 73, worked at the institute all his life, studying at university as an engineer before working his way up to run the operation for eight years.

He had received the Russian Medal of the Order for Services to the Fatherland, First Class, and was a distinguished professor with more than 50 scientific publications who remained as an influential advisor after his retirement in 2015.

Gerashchenko’s highly suspicious death came less than two weeks after Vladimir Putin’s man who wanted to develop Russia’s resources in the Arctic “fell overboard” while sailing off the country’s Pacific coast.

Ivan Pechorin, 39, was general director of Putin’s Far East and Arctic Development Corporation and had recently attended a major conference organized by the belligerent Kremlin in Vladivostok.

The pair are the latest in a long line of senior officials from Russia’s energy, technology and financial sectors with ties to the Kremlin to die under suspicious circumstances in recent months.

Pechorin fell from the side of a boat into the waters near Russky Island near Cape Ignatiev, Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.

His body was found after a search lasting more than a day.

“Ivan’s death is an irreparable loss for friends and colleagues, a great loss for the company,” an official statement from the company said.

‘We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends.’

The company’s former CEO Igor Nosov, 43, also died suddenly in February, reportedly of a stroke.