Aviation expert is the latest victim of mysterious deaths in Russia

The death of the former dean of the Moscow Aviation Institute (IAM), confirmed by a statement from the institute, is the latest amid a series of mysterious cases involving high-ranking officials and Russian executives.

Anatoly Gerashchenko “died in an accident” on September 21. He served as the institute’s dean from 2007 to 2015, according to the IAM website.

The rector spent 45 years of his life in the organization and was “Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor and Consultant to the Rector of IAM”, added the note.

The institute’s website also stated that a commission was formed to investigate the incident, made up of representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Labor Inspectorate and IAM.

Gerashchenko is at least the 10th case of an influential person in Russia to have died, apparently, by suicide or in unexplained accidents since late January. At least six of these cases are associated with Russia’s two largest energy companies.

Four of those six were linked to state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom or one of its subsidiaries. The other two had connections with Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil and gas company.

Earlier this year, the company took the unusual public stance of speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine, appealing for sympathy for the victims and calling for an end to the conflict.

Lukoil chairman Ravil Maganov died in early September after falling from a Moscow hospital window, according to Russian news agency TASS.

In mid-September, Russian businessman Ivan Pechorin, who was the chief executive of the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, was found dead in the east of the country. Pechorin drowned on September 10 near Cape Ignatyev in Vladivostok, according to local media.