In the last three months, the deaths of 5 Russian businessmen are being investigated as suicides

At least five prominent Russian businessmen have committed suicide since late January this year, with three of them allegedly killing family members before taking their own lives.

Four of the dead were associated with the Russian state energy giant Gazprom or one of its subsidiaries.

the team of CNN tried to contact Gazprom but got no response.

A top Gazprom executive was found dead at his country house in Leninsky village near Leningrad on January 30, 2022, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported.

The RIA reported that a suicide note was found at the scene and that investigators were treating the death as a suicide. Russian broadcaster RenTv identified the man as Leonid Shulman, head of transport at Gazprom Invest.

Just a month later, another top Gazprom executive was found dead in the same village. Alexander Tyulakov was found dead in his garage on February 25, according to Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper. Novaya Gazeta reported that he committed suicide.

THE CNN asked Russia’s Investigative Committee for comment on the two cases, but did not receive a response.

Mikhail Watford, a Ukrainian-born Russian billionaire, was found dead at his home in Surrey, England, on February 28.

Surrey Police told the CNN that the death is being investigated by the coroner, who said a hearing will be held on July 29.

Another Russian businessman, Vasily Melnikov, was found dead alongside his family in Nizhny Novgorod in late March, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Melnikov owned MedStom, a medical supply company. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, a 43-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife, and two children aged four and 10 were found stabbed to death on March 23.

The committee did not name Melnikov, but the ages of the dead and the location of the incident match the Kommersant newspaper report.

The regional branch of the investigative committee did not update the status of its investigation and did not return the request for comment from the CNN. At the time of the incident in March, the committee said there were “no signs of unauthorized entry into the apartment” and “knives were found and seized”.

“[Os investigadores] are considering various versions of what happened, including the murder of the children and wife by the head of the family, followed by self-inflicted death,” the committee said.

Earlier this month, two more Russian businessmen died in apparent incidents of murder and suicide.

Vladislav Avayev, former vice president of Gazprombank, was found dead with his wife and daughter in their Moscow apartment on April 18, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Citing a source in the judiciary, Tass said authorities were investigating the Avayevs’ deaths as murder-suicide.

Yulia Ivanova, a representative of the Moscow Investigation Committee, was quoted by the news agency as saying that a relative discovered the Avayevs’ bodies after being told by the family’s driver and nanny that they could not contact them by phone or enter the apartment. , for the door was closed from the inside.

Igor Volobuev, former vice president of Gazprombank, who recently left Russia for Ukraine, told CNN who doesn’t believe Avayev killed himself.

“His job was to deal with private banks, that means dealing with VIP customers. He was in charge of very large amounts of money. So he killed himself? I don’t think so. I think he knew something and that he posed some kind of risk,” Volobuev told CNN.

Just a day later, on April 19, Sergey Protosenya, a former executive at gas producer Novatek, which is partially owned by Gazprom, was found dead north of Barcelona. The bodies of his wife and daughter were found nearby, an official source close to the investigation told CNN last week.

Protesenya, his wife and daughter were found at their home in Lloret de Mar, a Mediterranean resort near Barcelona.

The bodies of the two women, who showed signs of violence, were found inside the family’s luxurious home, and Protosenya’s body was found in the garden outside, according to the source. The case is being investigated as a double homicide and subsequent suicide in a domestic violence case.

Speaking to the US newspaper Daily Mail, Protosenya’s son questioned the version of events, suggesting that his father was murdered.

“He loved my mother and especially Maria, my sister. She was his princess. He could never do anything to harm them. I don’t know what happened that night, but I know my father didn’t hurt them,” said Fedor Protosenya, who was at the family’s home in France at the time of the incident.

Catalan police in the province of Girona, where the town of Lloret de Mar is located, told CNN on Friday (29) that “the hypothesis remains a case of domestic violence, despite the son’s statements”.

“The Catalan police received statements from the son. Other hypotheses were ruled out. A triple homicide was also ruled out,” she told the CNN the police press officer.

“That this was the work of the Russian mafia? Well, no,” the official added.

Novatek, Protosenya’s former employer, said he was “a wonderful person and a wonderful family man.”

“Unfortunately, there has been speculation on this topic in the media, but we are convinced that these speculations are unrelated to reality,” the company said in a statement.