At least five Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin may have been assassinated, as the president purges his inner circle of wealthy former allies.
Since the beginning of the year, four gas industry bosses linked to the tyrant and a top medical executive have died in mysterious circumstances.
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But sources believe they may actually have been murdered, as it is claimed there were similarities in their deaths.
On February 25, the day after Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, the body of Alexander Tyulakov, a senior Gazprom financial and security official at the deputy director-general level, was discovered dead by his lover.
The 61-year-old’s neck was in a noose at his £500,000 home.
Just three weeks earlier, in the same elite gated residential development in the Leningrad region, Leonid Shulman, head of transportation for Gazprom Invest, was found dead.
The 60-year-old man was discovered with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor.
Meanwhile, wealthy Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Gazprombank deputy chairman and former Kremlin official, was found shot to death in his elite Moscow penthouse.
And days later, Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found dead by hanging in Spain.
Protosenya was vice president of Novotek, a company closely linked to the Kremlin.
Here are seven clues that suggest the five may have been killed amid fears that Putin is purging his inner circle as his invasion of Ukraine remains stalled.
‘Similarities’ in deaths
At least four of the suspected suicides have been labeled “suspicious” by Russian sources, including a former FSB colonel on the Telegram messaging channel.
Writing in Mozhem Obyasnit, which means we can explain it, Gennady Gudkov stated that there were similarities in the deaths of top managers and their families of major gas companies.
He stated: “Don’t let the ‘rats’ escape, they might talk.
“If we already understand that the regime is hell-bent on eliminating its opponents and enemies, then why aren’t they going to deal with those who are considered traitors who have fled the system?
“Many cases of [suspicious deaths] They are like settling scores.”
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FAMILIES FOUND DEAD
In the two most recent macabre incidents, the families of the two oligarchs were murdered, raising suspicions that the “suicides” were staged.
Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found shot to death along with his wife Yelena, 47, and their daughter Maria, 13, at their Moscow home.
The bodies were discovered by Avayecv’s eldest daughter, Anastasia, 26, along with a total of 13 different weapons.
A police source said a gun was found in Avayev’s hand.
Kremlin analyst Olga Lautman said that Avayev previously worked in Putin’s presidential administration, as well as in the parliament or Duma.
Meanwhile, in a chilling echo of Avayev’s death, Russian tycoon Sergey Protosenya, 55, his wife Natalya, 53, and daughter Maria, 18, were discovered dead in their luxurious Spanish villa.
Protosenya, who boasted a fortune of more than £333 million, did not leave a suicide note before allegedly hanging himself in the courtyard.
Natalia and Maria had been hacked to death in their beds with an ax in Lloret de Mar, on Spain’s Costa Brava, according to reports.
Police found the gruesome scene after the couple’s teenage son, who was in France at the time, raised concerns.
Alleged crime scene inconsistencies and the coincidental deaths of two gas oligarchs and their families in a matter of days have raised suspicions.
OLIGARCH ‘HARDLY BEATNED’ BEFORE DEATH
Just one day after Putin invaded Ukraine, the body of Gazprom Deputy Director General Alexander Tyulakov was found.
His hanging body was discovered by his mistress at his £500,000 home in Leningrad.
But he had reportedly been severely beaten before his death, leading to speculation about how he died.
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KNIFE ‘OUT OF REACH’
In the same gated community in the Leningrad region, Leonid Shulman, head of transportation for Gazprom Invest, was found dead on January 29.
He was discovered with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor.
A note, the contents of which have not been disclosed, was found, and the Russian Investigative Committee reportedly refused to discuss the deaths.
It is reported that a knife was found in the bathtub, apparently out of his reach.
Many cases of [suspicious deaths] they are like settling scores
Gennady Gudkov
‘LINKS TO THE KREMLIN’
Suspicion has been raised about the five deaths as they come amid a reorganization in the ownership of Russian companies.
The change was triggered by Western sanctions that froze many fortunes.
The engineer and economist Protosenya had been the chief accountant of the Novatek company, the largest independent producer of natural gas in Russia, between 2002 and 2014, and then vice president.
He had a fortune of $440 million, it is claimed.
Novatek is co-owned by Putin’s close friend Gennady Timchenko, and the privileged giant had recently been excluded from the Kremlin leader’s edict to trade energy only in rubles.
The company is also closely linked to Pyotr Kolbin, a childhood friend of Putin, allegedly a “shadow holder of Putin’s wealth.”
“Then, under strange and similar circumstances, the families of the managers of two key private companies that manage the money of Putin’s entourage died,” Mozhem Obyasnit stated.
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‘FIGHT TO BELIEVE’
Last month, the bodies of Russian billionaire Vasily Melnikov, his wife and two children were discovered in their luxury apartment in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 250 miles east of Moscow.
All died from stab wounds, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
The newspaper cited police investigators, who said they had determined that Melnikov killed his family before committing suicide.
However, neighbors and relatives have since come forward, saying they find it hard to believe Melnikov could have done something so evil.
The businessman had been an executive at the medical firm MedStom, which had suffered heavily as a result of economic sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian publication Glavred.
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PUTIN CRITICAL FOUND DEAD
In early March, just a week after the start of the war, Surrey police were called to the luxurious home of a Ukrainian business tycoon, Mikhail Watford.
The 66-year-old was found hanged at his £18million home on the exclusive Wentworth Estate in Virginia Water.
A neighbor of Mikhail’s claimed that he had told her that Putin had blacklisted him.
He also said that Watford, known as Misha, had been friends with Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, found hanged at his home in Ascot, Berks, in 2013.
Watford told him that Berezovsky had been assassinated by an intelligence agency.
The neighbor continued: “I find it hard to believe that Misha would have taken her own life. It doesn’t fit.”
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