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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Will Stewart & Ryan Fahey

12 powerful Vladimir Putin critics and oligarchs found dead since start of Ukraine war

Some of Russia's most powerful men have died in mysterious circumstances in the months since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Last week another of the warmonger's close allies Ivan Pechorin , 39, met his maker after reportedly falling into the sea off his boat as he sailed close to Russky Island off Russia's Pacific coast.

Pechorin - who was responsible for Russia's vast Arctic resources - had not long attended the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, which was hosted by the tyrant.

The Far East and Arctic Development Corporation that he directed issued a statement following his death.

A spokesperson said: “Ivan's death is an irreparable loss for friends and colleagues, a great loss for the corporation. We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends.”

The company's CEO Igor Nosov , 43, also died from a reported stroke after taking over the reins in May this year.

Ivan Pechorin, (circled ) speaks at the Eastern Economic Forum just days before he suspiciously fell overboard (erdc.ru East2west News)

The pair are just two of the senior officials linked to the Kremlin that have mysteriously died since February.

Leading Russian oil tycoon Ravil Maganov , 67, a chairman of energy giant LUKOIL, was killed after mysteriously falling from a sixth-floor window at a hospital in Moscow.

At the time of his death on September 1, the reason for his hospital admission was unknown.

Unconfirmed reports claimed he had been "beaten" before being "thrown out of a window" after his company publicly announced its opposition to the war.

In a strange coincidence Putin arrived at the same facility to pay his respects to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after his body was found outside the Central Clinic Hospital.

LUKOIL chairman Ravil Maganov standing beside Putin (Kremlin/EAST2WEST NEWS)

Maganov had served as chairman Far East and Arctic Development Corporation since 2020 after being promoted from executed vice president.

Maganov joined the board in the early 1990s and has fallen into senior positions ever since.

He was also highly decorated by the Russian president.

Yuri Voronov , 61, who was the head of a Gazprom-linked transport and logistics company, was found dead in his mansion swimming pool in July.

The executive - who had lucrative contracts with the energy giant - was found with a close-range gunshot wound to the head in his home in an upmarket part of St Petersburg.

"Spent cartridges" were found at the bottom of the pool and a semi-automatic pistol was found nearby.

While officials claimed the death was linked to a "quarrel with partners", his wife told investigators she feared Voronov had "lost a lot of money" and had been swindled by his business partners.

Alexander Tyulakov, 61, was found dead in his mansion in Leninsky elite Gazprom village (Gazprom/east2west news)
Russian oligarch, Vasily Melnikov (twitter.com/nexta_tv)

Also linked to Gazprom, Alexander Tyulakov , 61, was discovered hanging in the garage of his £500,000 St Petersubrg home by his lover just one day after the Ukraine war began.

The senior Gazprom financial and security official was reportedly badly beaten before his death.

In the same elite Leninsky gated housing development in Leningrad region three weeks earlier, Leonid Shulman , 60, head of transport at Gazprom Invest, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor.

Billionaire Alexander Subbotin , 43, also linked to Kremlin-friendly energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May after “taking advice from shamans”.

One theory is that Subbotin - who also owned a shipping company - was poisoned by toad venom triggering a heart attack.

Russian gas tycoon Sergei Protosenya (pictured), his wife Natalya, 53, and teenage daughter Maria, were found dead in their Spanish mansion on April 19 (social media/east2west news)

In April, wealthy Vladislav Avayev , 51, a former Kremlin official, appeared to have taken his own life after killing his wife Yelena, 47, and daughter, 13.

He had high level links to leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank.

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

There are claims he had access to the financial secrets of the Kremlin elite.

Several days later multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya , 55, was found hanged in Spain, after evidently killing with an axe his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter, Maria.

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

As with Avayev, it is suggested this may have been an assassination made to appear a murder-and-suicide.

A mobile phone multi-millionaire and his wife were found stabbed to death at the end of August in another case that has raised questions.

On February 28, Mikhail Watford , a gas and oil magnate, was discovered hanged in the garage of his Surrey, England, mansion, leaving behind three children.

The oligarch died in "unexplained circumstances" but there was no indication he had been targeted with sanctions due to being close with Putin, according to the Guardian, citing police reports.

Billionaire Vasily Melnikov , who founded the medical company MedStorm, was found dead alongside his wife and two young sons in Nizhny Novgorod in late March, Kommersant reported at the time.

Though Melkinov's company was said to be close to collapse due to sanctions, neighbours and people who knew the family said there was no reason to suspect any issues between them.

An employee received a message the day before their bodies were found from Melkinov who asked him to bury him in the same plot as his mother.

The message also gave the location of his key "under the rug" and told him "don't break the door".

Naked Yevgeny Palant , 47, and his wife Olga, 50, both Ukrainian-born, were found with multiple knife wounds by their daughter Polina, 20.

Immediate briefing to the media claimed the woman took her own life in a jealous rage after Palant said he was leaving her.

Yet this was strongly disputed by the couple’s best friend.

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