A prominent Russian oil executive has died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow, joining a list of mysterious or unexplained deaths of individuals critical of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to Reuters which cited people familiar with the matter, Ravil Maganov, who was the chairman of Russia’s second-largest private oil company, Lukoil, on Thursday fell to his death from a window at the Central Clinic Hospital in Moscow. The 67 year-old was initially admitted to the hospital due to a heart condition and was on antidepressants, and allegedly fell over the balcony in his room while smoking. It remains unknown if Maganov’s death was the result of an accident, suicide, or homicide; Lukoil only alluded that he had “passed away following a severe illness.”
A number of senior business officials in Russia’s oil industry have already passed away under mysterious circumstances after voicing criticism of Vladimir Putin’s military operation in Ukraine. One week after Russia invaded its neighbour to the west, Lukoil publicly called “for the soonest termination of the armed conflict,” announcing it was in support of a “lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy.”
Maganov has been at Lukoil since 1993, and was a close ally of Vagit Alekperov, the oil company’s original founders. Before his deadly “fall,” he frequently attended meetings of Russia’s oil producers to provide feedback on joint actions related to OPEC+ decisions. His death has attracted global attention because the oil company was among the very few to disagree with Putin’s Ukraine intervention.
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