Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Chairman of the board of directors of a Russian oil company, Ravil Maganov died Thursday in a hospital in Moscow. Depressed, he threw himself from the sixth floor of the establishment, explained a Russian press agency, citing an anonymous police source. He died of a “serious illness”, rather announced his company.
One thing is certain, the announcement of his death fuels rumours: at least eight well-known Russian businessmen have died suddenly this year.
“He is not the first high-profile person to die in suspicious circumstances,” notes Maria Popova, associate professor at McGill University. It just confirms that being an oligarch is a dangerous job. »
These wealthy industrialists made their fortunes in the privatization of resources after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A “very corrupt” system, explains the political scientist, and embedded in the political system.
CONTESTATION
Aged 67, Ravil Maganov was one of the historical leaders of Loukoil, a private oil group founded in November 1991. The president of the company, the billionaire Vaguit Alekperov, had resigned at the end of April, after being put on a list Russian personalities sanctioned by the United Kingdom.
Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, was one of the very few Russian companies to call for an early end to the offensive in Ukraine.
“With the suspicious deaths, many people suspect political involvement, but we know next to nothing, warns Mme Popova. He opposed the war, but he was not an anti-war activist either. We don’t know if there is a link. »
Several deaths
Mr. Maganov is one of the most notorious figures to die this year in circumstances that raise questions.
Another former company executive, Alexander Soubbotine, passed away last May. He allegedly suffered a heart attack in a shaman’s basement north of Moscow, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
Billionaires from the energy industry seem particularly affected by these early deaths. The former head of the liquid natural gas company Novatek, Sergey Protosenya, was found dead last April, with his wife and 18-year-old daughter, in a Spanish villa. The first hypotheses suggested murders followed by suicide.
The day before, another oligarch, from the banking sector, had been found dead in similar circumstances in his apartment in the Russian capital, with the bodies of his wife and 13-year-old daughter. Vladislav Avayev was the former vice president of Gazprombank.
conspiracy theories
The information remains fragmented. In the case of Ravil Maganov, the police had not given official information. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment and said the issue was “not at all” about the Russian presidency.
Silence and contradictions feed the different hypotheses.
Of course, there are several conspiracy theories, some far-fetched. But the Russians are not surprised by these deaths.
Maria Popova, Associate Professor at McGill University
If the Western media are more attentive to the disappearance of the oligarchs since the invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, the mysterious deaths of Russian personalities, opponents or oligarchs, are not new – in Russia as outside its borders .
A refugee in the United Kingdom, the businessman Boris Berezovsky, critic of Vladimir Putin, was for example found dead in his bathroom in 2013, a scarf enclosing his neck. The coroner could not determine with certainty whether it was suicide or murder. The commissioner in charge of the case said there was no evidence that anyone else was involved in his death.
“This is not a precedent [la mort de Ravil Maganov]says M.me Popova. It’s hard to see if there’s a trend right now; Oligarchs have been dying for a while under nebulous circumstances. We don’t know if there are more now, or if the climate means that we talk about it more. »
With Agence France-Presse, BBC and Reuters