Two Russian oligarchs dead from apparent suicide within 24 hours

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 this week.

Police are considering both cases murder-suicides.

However, the deaths occurring so close to each other lead some to deem the circumstances suspicious.

On Monday, unable to get in touch with her father Vladislav Avayev, a former Gazprombank vice-president and Kremlin official, 26-year-old Anastasia arrived at his lavish Moscow apartment to find him dead.

Alongside the 51-yearold were the bodies of his wife Yelena, 47, and younger daughter Maria, 13.

All three suffered gunshot wounds, and Anastasia told police she found a gun in her father’s hand, the Sun reports.

Before working as vice president at the private bank Gazprom, Avayev made his fortune in construction. He then became a deputy head of a major department in the Kremlin. Avayev had left his role as vice president at Gazprom, Russia’s third-largest bank and the main instrument for accepting oil and gas payments in Russia.

He had a significant role in Russia’s gas-for-ruble scheme to retaliate against Western sanctions.

According to an unnamed source, Avayev became jealous that his wife became pregnant by his driver.

However, reports conflict on whether she was pregnant at all.

A neighbour called Kristina, quoted in Euro Weekly News, said: “I heard three shots and shouting. A woman was screaming. Then two more shots were fired. No one else was screaming. I looked out the window — I thought it was fireworks. It turned out they weren’t. My mother told me it was definitely gunshots.”

Another neighbour said: “He was a smart man, almost the head of Gazprombank. I had seen him — he did not look like a maniac. He was a nerd. He had no reason to do that. He was rich, smart. There’s no way a man like that could kill.”

Russian police said they will investigate any leads in his personal and professional life. A total of 13 weapons were found in the apartment, 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 and Protosenya was found without any blood on his body.

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

The deaths are reportedly the latest of four deaths of senior level Russian oil executives.

On Feb. 25, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, 61-year-old Gazprom former deputy Alexander Tyulyakov was found hanged in a cabin near St. Petersburg, reports 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, who headed 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, seemingly out of reach, according to the Daily Mail.

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