There has been a spate of killings of Russian oligarchs in recent months. Some have attributed it to the rise of Putin and his crackdown on corruption, while others say that it is simply a coincidence.
But whatever the reason may be, it is clear that something is going on and that Russian billionaires are in danger. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at why these murders are happening and what could be behind them. Stay tuned for more information!
Why Are Russian Oligarchs Being Killed
German Gorbuntsov, a Russian financier, claims that a succession of inexplicable deaths of Russian oligarchs in recent months is “not a coincidence.”
In a recent documentary called Secrets of the Oligarch Wives, which features the female partners of Russian billionaires and gives them the chance to discuss what they have seen while living close to President Vladimir Putin’s administration, Gorbuntsov made an appearance.
About the oligarch murders, Gorbuntsov reportedly added, “A killer comes up with his approach when he’s told to take out a family.” They were all killed using similar but somewhat varied methods a rifle there, an axe here but they weren’t all suicides. This wasn’t a coincidence.
Before talking about the deaths of the Russian oligarchs, Gorbuntsov and the narrator of the video described a claimed attempt on his life that happened after he left Russia.
Because he learned that two of his business partners were allegedly cheating him, he departed the country. According to the documentary, he was going to testify to Russian authorities against two other former partners, but the meeting was canceled due to the suspected assassination attempt.
Since late January of this year, seven Russian oligarchs have been discovered dead under strange circumstances; all but one of those fatalities have taken place since Putin began his campaign on Ukraine on February 24.
Gorbuntsov had no explanation for how the oligarchs would have perished if not by suicide. The documentary’s co-star and financier Bill Browder suggested that Western sanctions against Russia might have had an impact.
Since Russia was subjected to sanctions, the pie, in Browder’s opinion, has shrunk. So now many people are battling for a small sum of money, and once there are few resources and strong people, people start dying.
Leonid Shulman
The lone death that occurred before the start of the Russia-Ukraine War was the first, and it was discovered in late January. According to CNN, Leonid Shulman, the chief of transport at Gazprom Invest, was reportedly discovered on January 30 in a cottage toilet in Russia’s Leningrad region, having committed himself.
Ravil Maganov
According to the censored Russian media, Ravil Maganov, the founder of the oil company Lukoil, may have killed himself or inadvertently fell from a Moscow hospital’s window (or balcony). He might have suffered harm as a result of being one of the few prominent businessmen who spoke negatively about the war against Ukraine.
Alexander Subotin
It is difficult to excuse his Lukoil for asking for the battle to halt back in March. Alexander Subotin, his former executive director, likewise passed away in May without explanation, save for the state-sanctioned lie that he did so “after seeing a shaman.”
Der Spiegel
According to Der Spiegel, a Russian diplomat was discovered dead in October 2021 after he apparently jumped from the Russian embassy’s Berlin window.
The unnamed individual worked as the embassy’s second secretary, but German intelligence officials informed the newspaper they believed he was an FSB covert agent working for Russia.
The guy was identified as Kirill Zhao, the son of General Alexey Zhao, deputy director of the FSB’s Second Service, who dealt with internal political threats for the Kremlin, according to the investigative outlet Bellingcat, which claimed to have utilized open-source data to make the determination.
Yegor Prosvirnin
Yegor Prosvirnin, the creator of the nationalist blog Sputnik and Pogrom, passed away in December of that same year after falling out of an apartment building window in Moscow.
Local media said that screaming and cursing were heard coming from Prosvirnin’s flat before his naked body was discovered close to a knife and a gas canister.
Right-wing activist Prosvirnin initially backed Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 but then criticized the president loudly, foreseeing a civil war in Russia and the dissolution of the Russian Federation.
What Qualities Do Russian Oligarchs Possess?
Business oligarchs from the former Soviet republics known as Russian oligarchs were quickly wealthy in the 1990s as a result of the Russian privatization that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.
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