A number of well known Russian businessmen have died by clear suicide in just 3 months

Back links with Gazprom

In the 1st of the fatalities described this yr, a top rated government at Gazprom was discovered dead in his cottage in the village of Leninsky close to Leningrad on January 30, 2022, according to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti.

RIA noted that a suicide note was uncovered at the scene and that the investigators were investigating the dying as a suicide. Russian countrywide broadcaster RenTv has determined the person as Leonid Shulman, the head of transportation at Gazprom Commit.

Just a thirty day period following that, a different prime government at Gazprom was located dead in the exact same village. Alexander Tyulakov was learned useless in his garage on February 25, in accordance to Novaya Gazeta, an impartial Russian newspaper. Novaya Gazeta documented he died by suicide.

CNN’s phone calls to Gazprom have not been returned.

CNN has questioned Russia’s Investigative Committee for comment on the two situations but has not acquired a reaction.

Two much more Russian businessmen with inbound links to Gazprom died in apparent murder-suicide incidents in April.

A person of them, Vladislav Avayev, the previous vice-president of Gazprombank, was identified useless with his spouse and daughter in his Moscow condominium on April 18, in accordance to TASS.

Citing a supply in regulation enforcement, TASS claimed authorities were being investigating the Avayevs’ fatalities as a murder-suicide.

Yulia Ivanova, a representative of the Investigative Committee for Moscow, was quoted by Tass as stating that a relative discovered the Avayevs’ bodies following being instructed by the family driver and the nanny that they could not contact them on the phone or get into the apartment, given that the doorway was shut from the inside of.

Igor Volobuev, a former VP of Gazprombank who not too long ago remaining Russia for Ukraine, advised CNN that he did not think Avayev killed himself.

“His career was to offer with personal banking, that signifies working with VIP clientele. He was in charge of really massive quantities of cash. So, did he kill himself? I do not consider so. I imagine he knew one thing and that he posed some type of threat,” Volobuev advised CNN in April.

Russia’s Investigative Committee did not reply to CNN’s request for comment on this situation.

Just a day later on, on April 19, Sergey Protosenya, a former executive at the gasoline producer Novatek, which is partly owned by Gazprom, was uncovered dead at his residence in Lloret de Mar, a Mediterranean vacation resort around Barcelona.

The bodies of his spouse and daughter, displaying indicators of having experienced violence, were being uncovered inside of the family’s luxurious house, an official supply near to the investigation told CNN previous week, while the system of Protosenya was identified in the back garden outside, according to the resource.

Son concerns first findings

Catalan police in the province of Girona, wherever the city of Lloret de Mar is positioned, instructed CNN on Friday that they have considering the fact that accomplished their investigation into the scenario and sent the results to a court docket.

The police pressure explained its summary was that the fatalities were a double murder and subsequent suicide.

Speaking to the Day by day Mail in April, Protosenya’s son questioned that variation of situations, suggesting as an alternative that his father was murdered.

“The Catalan law enforcement have taken statements from the son. Other hypotheses have been dominated out. Also dominated out was a triple murder,” the police’s push formal instructed CNN at that time. “That this was the perform of the Russian mafia? Nicely, no,” the formal added.

Novatek, Protosenya’s former employer, mentioned he was “a superb individual and a fantastic family person.”

“Unfortunately, there have been speculations on this topic in the media, but we are certain that these speculations are not linked to truth. We hope that the law enforcement organizations of Spain will perform a comprehensive and objective investigation and sort out what took place, ” the enterprise claimed in a assertion.

Coroner’s ruling

Mikhail Watford, a Ukrainian-born Russian oil and gasoline billionaire, was discovered lifeless in his home in Surrey, England on February 28.

Surrey Law enforcement advised CNN it did not consider there have been any suspicious circumstances.

Another Russian businessman, Vasily Melnikov, was uncovered lifeless alongside his family members in Nizhny Novgorod in late March, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Melnikov owned MedStom, a health care provides business. In accordance to Russia’s Investigative Committee, a 43-year-outdated male, his wife, 41, and two young children aged four and 10 had been discovered stabbed to demise on March 23.

The committee did not name Melnikov, but the ages of the dead and the locale of the incident match the Kommersant report.

The regional branch of the investigative committee has not current the status of its investigation and did not return CNN’s request for remark. At the time of the incident, in March, it reported there “have been no signals of unauthorized entry into the apartment,” and that “knives had been located and seized.”

“[Investigators] are contemplating various versions of what transpired, like the murder of the little ones and wife by the head of the family members, adopted by self-inflicted dying,” the committee claimed.

How to get enable: In the United States, simply call the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The Worldwide Association for Suicide Avoidance and Befrienders Throughout the world also can give make contact with data for disaster facilities around the earth.