Twas the night before Christmas
when through a hotel in India, something dreadful was stirring. As
most people were snug in their beds, a wealthy Russian businessman, politician,
and one-time critic of Vladamir Putin, flew through the air to land on the floor with
a towering thud. And so it was; a winter’s nap became an eternal trip to the afterlife.
He was just one of many Russian oligarchs to have mysteriously died lately in circumstances
that would compel even the least curious of you to mutter the word “conspiracy.” People
are saying something wicked is afoot within the ranks of Russia’s mega-wealthy. The
words “Russian Death Syndrome” have been used ironically, but the humor is lost on
the Russian oligarchs who might be next. What ties all these deaths together
is the question on everyone’s mind, and that’s what we’ll investigate today.
The man we just talked about was Pavel Antov. The 65-year-old had just celebrated his birthday
on December 22 after booking into that hotel with three of his friends. Given Antov’s wealth,
we think his accommodation, the Hotel Sai International in Rayagada in the eastern Indian
state of Odisha, was pretty basic. Rooms in January are going for about 40 bucks a night, and
Antov was said to be worth at least $140 million. But the lack of luxury on that night isn’t
what we’re here to talk about. What we want to know is how Antov died, given that he joined
a long list of oligarchs who’ve bitten the dust lately. One of the problems with getting to the
truth is that Antov’s body wasn’t examined by a pathologist. He was cremated the day after his
death, a procedure earlier given the green light by the Russian authorities in India.
The cause of death was pretty obvious, given he’d fallen from three floors, but how
he got to the floor should pique your interest, was he pushed or is there another explanation for
this? As it stands, we don’t know, but the Indian police rightly treat the death as suspicious.
After all, this millionaire, who’d made a ton of money doing business in sausages of all
things, and who’d been a successful lawmaker in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast, had been having a
good trip up until two days before his death. We’ll explain soon what affected his mood.
The crime branch in that part of India got on the case, but seeing as he’d been
cremated already, their investigation was somewhat cut short by the lack of a body.
Before we go on, we’ll just mention a little point we think you need to hear.
During Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Antov had apparently spoken critically about a
Russian missile attack on a residential apartment block in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv.
He took to WhatsApp and mentioned citizens being pulled from the rubble, saying, “It's extremely
difficult to call all this anything but terror.” The strange thing is, and you’re going to
hear a hell of a lot of strange things today, is that he soon deleted the message and wrote
that he was a “patriot of my country.” We wonder what compelled him to change his mind. He later
said he had nothing to do with the message and it had been written by a critic of Russia’s
so-called special operation, adding that he absolutely did not agree with this man’s opinions.
Back to India. The top cops in Odisha said they interviewed everyone at the hotel and all the
staff. They explained that they’d gone through the rooms where the Russians were staying,
319 and 401, and collected mobile phones, laptops, and other important things.
They interviewed two other Russians, Turov Mikhail, and Pane Senko Natalia. As you’ll
have noted, we said four Russians booked into that hotel. The police couldn’t interview
the other person because he was also now nothing but a pile of cremated ashes.
He was 61-year-old Vladimir Bydenov, a good friend to Antov and also a very rich
man. They’d both been sharing the room when sometime around the night of Antov’s birthday
celebrations, Bydenov collapsed and died. We don’t know exactly how he died, but initial
reports said it was perhaps a stroke or a heart attack. Al Jazeera wrote that it might even have
been a “drug overdose.” It was reported that both men had been drinking large amounts of wine, but
that usually doesn’t constitute a drug overdose. The Russian Consul General in India, Alexey
Idamkin, told the press that there was nothing suspicious about both deaths, adding that they
are not being treated as criminal cases in Russia. The first one, he said, was a matter
of failing health, and the second was down to the sadness at the loss of a life-long friend.
However, something just doesn’t ring true, given what’s been happening to Russian oligarchs
of late. Indian investigators have at least not given up on these cases being crimes. On New
Year’s Eve, they got hold of the cremated remains so pathologists could perform more forensic
examinations. It’s not impossible that something can still be found. Any forensic pathologist
will tell you that traces of poison can be found in cremated ashes in a forensic toxicology
lab. It’s also reported that India’s National Human Rights Commission is now on the case.
Some of you might now think there’s nothing to be suspicious about. After all, Russian oligarchs
have been through quite a rough stretch of late, walking on eggshells where Ukraine is concerned
and getting their assets seized in various countries. Maybe, you think, there’s a good reason
they’d be sick and depressed. Some people are bound to have died of various non-criminal
causes in such a stressful environment. Let’s see if you’re saying the
same at the end of the show. Vladimir Putin, who back in the day
ensured most of the oligarchs got to keep all that money many of them had looted
from Russia, would just tell you the deaths of two men in a hotel within two days was merely
an unfortunate event. And sure, he’d likely say, he forgives Antov for bad-mouthing
Russia’s bombing of an apartment block. But the deaths of those two men are merely the
tip of a blood-stained iceberg. Such as the sudden death last year of a man named Ravil Maganov,
which was about as suspicious as you can get. It was notable because Maganov had been
very critical of the Ukraine invasion. Up until his death, Maganov had been chairman
of the giant national oil company Lukoil. As head of the board of directors, Maganov
and the other members of the board came out and called the invasion a “tragedy.” A
statement also said, “We strongly support a lasting cease-fire and a settlement of problems
through serious negotiations and diplomacy.” They were certainly walking on shaky ground by
saying that, and no doubt Putin was enraged by such traitorousness. Still, Lukoil knew very well
that to keep business booming and to go ahead with its planned expansion in Europe and Africa; it had
to toe the line in terms of how the world thought about the invasion. Putin wasn’t impressed.
In September, Maganov was a patient at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow when,
like Antov, he took a trip through the sky, this time flying from the sixth floor. Lukoil
wrote on its website that its chairman “had passed away following a severe illness,” only adding,
“Lukoil's many thousands of employees mourn deeply for this grievous loss and express their
sincere condolences to Ravil Maganov's family.” Russian TV news media said Maganov had gone
to the hospital suffering from heart issues but noted that he had been taking antidepressant
pills at the time of his fall. Nothing much more was said than that, although Reuters spoke with
associates of Maganov that suggested his mind was in good shape before he went into the hospital.
Another report stated that Maganov was in good mental health and might have gone to the
balcony for a smoke and just fallen off. It seems the security cameras that might have
caught the action were not working at the time due to repairs. Hmm, doesn’t that always
seem to be the case with high-profile deaths… If this is starting to sound dark, it’s about
to get pitch-black, although it has to be said this next story has a touch of black humor to
it, if, of course, you didn’t know the victim. He was 43-year-old Alexander
Subbotin, who, lo and behold, had also worked as a top executive for Lukoil. His
death takes the biscuit for outright strangeness. A Russian news agency said this billionaire
had been trying to get his hands on what some reports say was a cure for a hangover.
Still, it seems more likely he was after something that could help him detoxify
from either alcohol or drug dependence. The report states that he ended up at a house
in Moscow where it’s believed a shaman lived who had a kind of antidote to help with
withdrawal symptoms. The news agency said Subbotin was subjected to “Jamaican voodoo
rituals,” which involved having toad venom injected into his body or at least having
some rubbed on a small incision in his skin. People do actually do this to induce a psychedelic
experience, and there are some cases of people doing it as a method of detoxification, but
it’s strange that a billionaire would seek out a very experimental treatment when he could
afford the best detox that money could buy. Russian law enforcement said that’s exactly what
he did, and right after, he suffered from a heart attack. The same report said he was given some
valerian root and died the next day in his home. The Russian police said they were investigating
the matter, but we don't know what came of that. Another top executive to bite the dust was Leonid
Shulman, who was the Director of Transport at Russia’s giant energy corporation, Gazprom – one
of the biggest public companies in the world. He was found at the start of 2022 in
his cottage near Leningrad. At the time, the Russian media didn’t give a cause of
death, although it was later stated that he’d been found covered in blood next to
a note. Almost exactly a month later, 61-year-old Alexander Tyulyakov was found dead
in the same village as Shulman had died in. He was also a top executive at Gazprom.
We don’t know the contents of the note, but we do know that a few news reports said that
before he died, he might have taken a beating. The Leningrad Region Investigative Committee
told the press, “Forensics were already working when a group of heavies arrived in three SUVs.
They said they were Gazprom's security service, surrounded the territory, and put us and most
of the police outside the fence of the house.” Gazprom did not comment to
the press about these deaths. In July, a 61-year-old man who was
the CEO of a subcontracting firm working for Gazprom was also found dead
in Leningrad. His name was Yuri Voronov. Like the others, he’d made millions from his
business but seemingly became very depressed all of a sudden. His body was found in a swimming
pool at his mansion. There was a hole in his head and a semi-automatic Grand Power pistol
lying nearby. Reports say several spent cartridges were lying at the bottom of the pool.
A Russian Investigative Committee said the death might have been due to “a quarrel with partners,”
while his wife said that he had indeed had a falling out with people he was doing business
with. Nonetheless, initial reports said the security cameras around the mansion had not picked
up any images of strangers visiting the house. Another Gazprom-related death in 2022
was that of 37-year-old Andrei Krukovsky. He fell off a cliff while hiking at a ski
resort owned by Gazprom and managed by him. He had a lot of experience hiking, too.
Anyone can fall, of course, and it can happen anywhere, just as it did to the former
Russia-based businessman Dan Rapoport. After moving from Ukraine to the US after
the invasion, he was an outspoken critic of Putin. In August, he was found in the street
outside his nine-story luxury apartment in Washington D.C. He was found still wearing a
hat and flip-flops and had a load of cash in his wallet. His wife said not long before
they’d both been making plans together. Was it a suspicious death? The US authorities
didn’t seem to think so, but others did, including his wife. Some fellow businessmen said
his connections in Washington and his history in Russia, along with his criticism of Putin, made
it naïve to rule out foul play. His final Facebook post, a photo of Marlon Brandon playing Colonel
Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, could mean anything, but it’s strange, to say the least. “The
Horror, the horror,” he wrote, quoting Kurtz. One of the commenters on that post, Jim
Brooke, the former Moscow Bureau Chief for Bloomberg and former overseas bureau chief at
The New York Times, said, “Dan - we will miss you. I am very skeptical…Try again DC police!”
If this still doesn’t sound suspicious to you, you might want to know about the death
of 51-year-old Vladislav Avayev in April. Another multi-millionaire on this list,
Avayev was a former Kremlin official with close ties to Putin. He was also the former
Vice President of the financial institution, Gazprombank, which had specifically been
set up to serve the Gazprom energy company. News reports say Vladislav’s body was found
close to his wife and daughter’s bodies at their multi-million dollar Moscow apartment. The bodies
were found by another daughter who’d been worried none of the family had been picking up the phone.
Police said they found a gun in the father’s hand, and the other two had also been shot.
Various reports said it’s possible that Vladislav could have been jealous about his wife
having an affair and getting pregnant, although this hasn’t been confirmed. It’s also
possible that Western sanctions had hurt him financially, but other people said none of this
made any sense. A neighbor told the press that he seemed fine and was not the kind of man
who could kill. She said, “He was a nerd. He had no reason to do that. He was rich,
smart. There‘s no way a man like that could kill…Maybe Avayev and his family were killed.”
Just one day after the Avayev family was found, a very similar scene was discovered in Spain.
The family this time was the Protosenyas, whose patriarch was Sergey, a 55-year-old
oligarch worth around $250 million who was once Deputy Chairman of Russia’s
second-largest natural gas producer, Novatek. Sergey also had close ties with Putin; if the
initial news reports are correct, he also lost his mind and went on a bloody rampage. This
time it was at a luxury Spanish villa, and the murder weapon was an axe. Yes, that doesn’t
bear thinking about, but the surviving son, a 22-year-old named Fedor, said there’s absolutely
no way his father could turn into an axe murderer. He told the press, “My father is not a killer. He
loved my mother and especially Maria, my sister.” Spanish investigators said they understood that
people were speculating about some kind of hit by Russian intelligence, but they said that’s
all it is: speculation. They told the press, “Everything points to it being a domestic violence
crime, a double murder, and subsequent homicide.” Anatoly Timoshenko, who was a close friend of
Sergey, told the British press, “Sergey did not do it. Sergey did not kill his family. It is
impossible. I do not want to discuss what may have happened at the house that night, but
I know that Sergey is not a killer.” Another friend said, “Sergey did not
kill his family. I have known him for ten years. He was a happy man. He
loved his family. He did not kill his wife and child. I am sure.”
The investigation is ongoing. It was a similar tale in March when the
Russian billionaire, Vasily Melnikov, was found dead in an apartment in Nizhny
Novgorod along with three of his family members. Melnikov was the owner of MedStom, a very
successful medical supplies firm. A knife was found at the scene, and the father’s body
was close to his wife and two children. Russian investigators said there “were no signs
of unauthorized entry into the apartment.” At first glance, you’d certainly not want
to work in the oil and gas industries in Russia at the moment because executives in
those areas have been dropping like flies. A 66-year-old Ukraine-born oligarch named
Mikhail Watford, who’d made a fortune when the Soviet Union collapsed, was found
dead at the start of the Ukraine invasion. Like many oligarchs, he’d made his home in
England after the UK pretty much laid out a red carpet for those people who’d looted Russia,
but the warm welcoming suddenly turned sour when Putin decided to launch his special operation.
British cops said Watford’s body was found at his home in Surrey. They explained that they
had no cause of death but that it didn’t look suspicious. The British Press said the death came
at a time when wealthy Russians living in Britain had been attacked, possibly on the orders of
Russian authorities. A thing to remember here is that when the Soviet Union fell, it was
Putin that made deals with the oligarchs, basically telling them he wouldn’t have
them arrested if they played ball with him. Did Putin see a traitor in his old ally? It’s not
certain that Watford had spoken out against Putin, and it seems the British authorities
might have hit him with sanctions at some point. Maybe he was just stressed.
Subsequent reports suggested that stress and what he did about it was the cause of
his death, although some reports said these coincidences were getting ridiculous and
his death certainly “raises questions after other suspicious deaths of Russian nationals.”
Then there was the man who fell down the stairs, a mafia-style death if ever there was one.
He was the 72-year-old Anatoly Gerashchenko, the former rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute
and yet another man with links to the Kremlin. Such a death might not, in normal
circumstances, look suspicious. Still, given all the other deaths and in light
of his aviation expertise being used in a military capacity, you might question how he
just managed to fall down some steps – according to the Russian media, “from a great height.”
In September, another Russian with ties to the Kremlin and with expertise in aviation
also met a strange end involving a fall. At the time of his death, Ivan Pechorin was the
Managing Director for the Aviation Industry of the Corporation for the Development of the Far
East and the Arctic. He was also said to be a close Putin ally. His body washed up in the Sea
of Japan in September somewhere near Vladivostok, with official reports saying he fell off
his boat. The CEO of the same company, 43-year-old Igor Nosov, had died
of a stroke just months earlier. Again, this might not look suspicious to some of
you, but you ought to know that it is unusual for such young men, young men that look very fit,
to die of strokes. You might also want to know that poisoning can cause something that looks
like a stroke. It’s thought people who’ve died from radioactive polonium poisoning have had their
deaths ruled as a stroke, not a result of poison. Arsenic poisoning could also cause a stroke
but might not show up on the death certificate. Maybe we are connecting too many dots
here. We could be, no doubt about it, but it would be irresponsible of us not
to at least look at the possibility of mass assassinations. After all, Putin and his
secret services have committed such acts in the recent past. While we probably shouldn’t
connect too many dots from the distant past, purges and poisonings have been the Russian
government’s modus operandi for decades now, going back to the dark times of Joseph Stalin.
It should also be pointed out that while some defectors have said that Putin could be behind
many of these deaths, others have said it wouldn’t be the first time that the oligarchs have been
part of a kind of mafia war. Remember, many of these men, or at least their relatives, were
called gangsters in the past, not businessmen. As the filmmaker Adam Curtis said in his 6-hour
documentary on the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the oligarchs-to-be were making hay
while regular Russian citizens starved, they soon were embroiled in very violent
mafia-style wars. You just don’t know that because Hollywood hasn’t made movies about it.
There was so much money up for grabs and so little trust among men, and with
Russia falling apart at the seams, the powerful had to make alliances. That’s why
many of them were found with their throats cut or pulled out of a bloody mass of bodies at
some snazzy restaurant. The turmoil in Russia, the money available to grab, the power
vacuums in industries and governance, meant mass bloodshed. Now, Russia is experiencing
turmoil again, although not on that kind of level. But are the oligarchs at it again, killing each
other? Are they being picked off by Putin? Or are they suffering from what some people have
ironically called the Russian Death Syndrome, which could be related to the shake-up of Russian
money and simply down to depression, ill health, and the occasional outlandish accident?
You also have to remember that Putin will not tolerate dissent. Russia has already introduced
laws that can mean a lengthy prison sentence for speaking out of turn. These laws so far are
aimed at regular citizens and brave journalists, so you have to ask what could happen to the
Russian elites if they also speak out of turn, maybe not always in public but to friends or
acquaintances. When things get totalitarian, everyone becomes a possible enemy.
Any Russian oligarch who’s looked at these deaths and perhaps knows nothing about
them will still certainly think twice now about opening their mouths, regardless
of if the deaths were related to heavy-handedness from the bosses in the Kremlin.
Now you should watch “How Putin Went From KGB Spy to President of Russia.” Or, have a look at “The
Insane Protection of The President of Russia.”
