Friends of the ex-wife of a jailed Russian tycoon have called on MI5 to investigate after she died mysteriously in London.
Ukraine-born Irina Izmestieva, 52, died at her £10million South Kensington townhouse after falling ill.
Ms Izmestieva, also known as Irina Ford, came to Britain sometime around 2007 and attended high society gatherings including one which Prince Harry was at in 2012.
Ex-husband Igor Izmestieva is serving life in Russia for a series of contract killings, despite promises by President Putin of a pardon.
Mum-of-two Ms Izmestieva, who previously ran a TV company, was found at her home on Friday after dying “unexpectedly.”
An ambulance was called at 7.11pm but Ms Izmestieva could not be saved.
Evgeny Chichvarkin, a Russian exile in London and friend, told reporters: “I very much hope that the UK’s special services will investigate this case properly, thoroughly, and, perhaps, one day we’ll learn what happened.”
Miranda Mirianishvili, 49, wrote on social media: “She was coughing, they said, taking antibiotics, and had not felt well for a few days. Not Covid.
“They found her sleeping on the couch at their home in London. That is, they found her no longer alive.”
Igor Izmestiev was a senator in Russia from 2001 to 2006 after previously serving in the Soviet army and working as an oil dealer.
He was detained in 2007 after being lured to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in a clandestine FSB spy operation and flown to Russia.
He was later charged with leading a gang that committed killings and investigators linked him to two “terrorist attacks” and 14 murders between 1992 and 2004, and five attempted murders.
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He was sentenced in 2010 by a Russian court to life in prison for organising multiple homicides as well as an attempt to blow up Ural Rakhimov, the son of political rival Murtaza Rakhimov.
Izmestiev argued in the trial that Ural was behind the case and the prosecution was biased.
The authorities said that he had ties to a mafia group.
