Yet Another High-Profile Russian Critic Falls Out of a Window to His Death

Another Putin critic 'commits suicide'. It's funny how criticising the dictator seems to automatically induce thoughts of self-destruction.

From the National Post

Ravil Maganov becomes the eighth Russia-linked figure to suffer an untimely death by falling from a window since 2020

The chairman of the board of Russia’s largest private oil company Lukoil has died with Russian news agencies on Thursday citing sources saying that he had fallen from a hospital window in what may have been a suicide.

A Lukoil statement said Ravil Maganov “passed away after a severe illness” but did not give further details.

Russian news reports said his body was found on the grounds of the Central Clinical Hospital, where Russia’s political and business elite are often treated. He appeared to have fallen from a sixth-storey window, the reports said.

State news agency Tass cited an unnamed law enforcement source as saying Maganov had committed suicide and that he had been admitted to the hospital after a heart attack. The news site RBK also said police were investigating the possibility of suicide.

Lukoil was one of a few Russian companies to publicly call for an end to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, calling in March for the “immediate cessation of the armed conflict.”

Maganov’s death has echoes of other high-profile Putin critics who died by falling out of a window.

Dan Rapoport, a Latvian-American businessman died on Aug. 14 by falling from the window of his luxury apartment in Washington, D.C. Rapoport lived in Kyiv with his wife and young daughter until the war broke out. Rapoport moved to D.C. and his wife and daughter lived in Denmark while he worked on bringing them to the U.S., Daily Mail reports. His wife has denied claims Rapoport died by suicide.

In Dec. 2021, Yegor Prosvirnin, founder of the ‘Sputnik and Pogrom’ news website, fell to his death by falling out of a fifth-storey residential building located in central Moscow. That day, Prosvirnin’s neighbours told BBC they allegedly heard “screaming and swearing” coming from his room. A knife and small canister were found near his body, according to media reports at the time.

Prosvirnin, a self-proclaimed nationalist, hailed the annexation of Crimea in 2014 but later grew more critical of Putin and ultimately predicted a collapse of the Russian Federation from civil war.

In 2020, Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, a top doctor at a hospital in Serbia, fell to her death while taking a conference call with top Russian health officials. Nepomnyashchaya disagreed with plans to turn a wing of the hospital into a coronavirus treatment facility and subsequently fell out of the window during the call.

Six Russian health-care workers fell from hospital windows to their deaths that year, Daily Mail reports. Five were treating coronavirus, while one had complained of the lack of PPE, according to the outlet. Another doctor fell from a window but reportedly survived.

Oligarch deaths

In April, two prominent Russian oligarchs were found dead alongside their families at their million-dollar residences in Russia and Spain — within 24 hours of each other. Vladislav Avayev, a former Gazprombank vice-president and Kremlin official was found dead in his luxury Moscow apartment alongside his wife, Yelena, 47, and younger daughter Maria, 13. All three people suffered gunshot wounds, and a gun was found in Avayev’s hand. Thirteen weapons were found in the residence, police said.

The following day, April 19, Sergei Protosenya, former board of director for Russian natural gas company Novatek, was found hanged in the courtyard of a Spanish villa located in Costa Brava. His wife and daughter were found hacked to death inside the property.

Investigators are said to be pursuing the theory that the 55-year-old killed both women with an axe and knife before taking his own life. Local reports say steps were taken to avoid leaving fingerprints on the murder weapon, casting doubts on the theory. According to the local press outlet El Punt Avui, no suicide note was left behind and Protosenya was found without any blood on his body.

Both Novatek and Gazprom were subject to U.S. sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Two additional oil executives reportedly died by suicide earlier this year. Alexander Tyulyakov, the 61-year-old Gazprom former deputy, was found hanged in a cabin near St. Petersburg, reported Novaya Gazeta. Tyulyakov’s body was hanging in his garage with a suicide note next to him. 

He had worked at Gazprom for close to 10 years and became deputy general director at the energy giant.

In January, 60-year-old Leonid Shulman, head of Gazprom’s transport service, died of an apparent suicide. Shulman was found in the bathroom of a cabin in the Leningrad region. He left behind a note complaining of a broken leg. The knife that caused his death was reportedly in a bathtub beside him but out of his reach, according to the Daily Mail.

He died in a pool of his own blood, covered in multiple stab wounds, according to the outlet.