Russian tycoon was murdered
Putin critic was strangled at his London home, police say
A RUSSIAN dissident found dead at his London home was murdered, Scotland Yard revealed last night.
Nikolay Glushkov, 68, was strangled and officially died from ‘compression to the neck’, a post mortem examination found.
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers from its Counter Terrorism Command will continue to investigate the killing ‘as a precaution’ and because of his associations.
They were brought in amid fears his sudden death could be linked to the nerve agent attack on his compatriot Sergei Skripal.
Officers said there is nothing to suggest any link to the attempted murder of the Russian former spy and his daughter in Salisbury.
However, the death of Mr Glushkov sparked fears he could be the third victim of Kremlin-sponsored assassins. The former Aeroflot director was one of the most wanted men in Russia due to his career as righthand man to billionaire Boris Berezovsky, a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin who was found hanged in the bathroom of his Surrey home in 2013. Mr Glushkov was the only surviving member of the tycoon’s inner circle after Badri Patarkatsishvili, 52, suffered an apparent fatal heart attack in 2008.
Last year, he appeared at the top of a ‘hit list’ published by the Russian Embassy in London of exiles who the British authorities refused to extradite.
Mr Glushkov’s body was found by his daughter Natalia, 34, a socialite and student, shortly before 11pm on Monday.
It is understood she travelled to his property in New Malden, south London, after failing to contact him by phone. Forensic experts pored over every inch of the house as specialist tests were conducted to ensure neighbours were not at risk. Last night, police continued to guard the home of the Russian exile, which he shared with his dog Ridge. Forensic tents remained outside the house, with a single officer stationed at the front door.
Neighbour Eniko Webb, 43, said: ‘We couldn’t believe it. We were like, what, here in front of our house?’
Earlier this week, one resident said Mr Glushkov received mystery visits from people in luxury cars, including a Ferrari and Lamborghini. The neighbour said: ‘There was something strange about the number of supercars pulling up outside the house.
‘It makes you wonder if it was connected with what had happened. I was suspicious.’
Mr Glushkov had been among the gilded circle of entrepreneurs who cashed in on the privatisation of Russia’s huge state assets. In the 1990s, he was installed at Aeroflot, the state airline, and helped lead Mr Berezovsky’s car firm until the billionaire fell out with Mr Putin and fled the country. After several run-ins with the authorities, Mr Glushkov fled to the UK in 2006, but was relentlessly pursued and was last year sentenced to eightyears in jail in his absence.
At the time of his death, he was fighting a civil battle in which Aeroflot was seeking up to £90million it claimed was embezzled.
One former Berezovsky bodyguard said he knew that Mr Glushkov was extremely nervous about his own safety. His concerns were heightened by the fate of Mr Berezovsky. Mr Glushkov refused to accept that his former business partner took his own life.
He told reporters around the time his friend was found hanged: ‘I’m definite Boris was killed.’
In Moscow, Russia’s Investigations Committee announced it has launched parallel criminal investigations to the Glushkov and Skripal cases.
Mysterious visitors in luxury cars