A senior Gazprom executive was found dead at his holiday home in the village of Leninsky near Leningrad on January 30, 2022, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti. The RIA reported that a suicide note was found at the scene and that investigators were investigating the death as a suicide. Russia’s national broadcaster RenTv has identified the man as Leonid Shulman, Gazprom Invest’s chief transport officer. Just a month later, another 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. CNN asked the Russian Investigative Committee to comment on the two cases, but received no response. Mikhail Watform, a Russian-born Russian billionaire, was found dead at his home in Surrey, England, on February 28. Surrey police told CNN that the death was being investigated by a medical examiner, who said the hearing would take place on July 29. Another Russian businessman, Vassily Melnikov, was found dead with his family in Nizhny Novgorod in late March, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant. Melnikov owned MedStom, a medical supplies company. A 43-year-old man, his wife, 41, and two children, aged four and 10, were found stabbed to death on March 23, according to the Russian Investigative Committee. The commission did not name Melnikov, but the ages of the dead and the location of the incident match Kommersant’s report. The regional committee of inquiry has not updated the status of its investigation and has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. At the time of the incident, in March, he stated that “there were no signs of unauthorized entry into the apartment” and “knives were found and confiscated”. “[Investigators] “They are looking at various versions of what happened, including the murder of the children and the wife by the head of the family, followed by a spontaneous death,” the commission said. Earlier this month, two more Russian businessmen were killed in a suicide bombing. Vladislav Avayev, a former vice president of Gazprombank, was found dead with his wife and daughter in his Moscow apartment on April 18, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. Citing a law enforcement source, Tass claimed that authorities were investigating Avayev’s deaths as a murder-suicide. Yulia Ivanova, a spokeswoman for the Moscow Commission of Inquiry, told Tass that a relative discovered Avayev’s bodies after being told by the family guide and nanny that they could not contact them by phone or enter the apartment. . , since the door was closed from the inside. Igor Volobuev, a former Gazprombank vice president who recently left Russia for Ukraine, told CNN he did not believe Avayev had committed suicide. “His job was to deal with private banking, that means dealing with VIP clients. He was responsible for very large sums of money. So he committed suicide? I do not think so. I think he knew something and it was some kind of risk,” Volobuev said. on CNN. Just one day later, on April 19, Sergey Protosenya, a former executive of the Gazprom gas company Novatek, 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, which showed signs of violence, were found inside the family’s luxury home and Protosenya’s body in the outside garden, according to the source. The case is being investigated as a double murder and subsequent suicide in a case of domestic violence. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Protosenya’s son disputed the version of events, saying his father had been killed. “He loved my mother and especially my sister Maria. She was his princess. He could never do anything to harm them. “I do not know what happened that night, but I know my father did not hurt them,” said Fedor Protosenya, who was at the family home in France at the time. The Catalan police in the province of Girona, where the city of Lloret de Mar is located, told CNN on Friday that “the case continues to be a case of domestic violence despite the statements of the son”. “Catalan police have taken statements from his son. Other cases have been ruled out. A triple homicide has also been ruled out,” a police spokesman told CNN. “That this was the work of the Russian mafia? Well, no,” the official added. Novatek, a former protosenya employer, said he was “a great man and a great family man.” “Unfortunately, there have been speculations in the media about this, but we are convinced that these speculations are untrue. We hope that the Spanish law enforcement agencies will conduct a thorough and objective investigation and settle what happened.” the company said in a statement. How to get help: In the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide can also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.
