According to two persons with knowledge of the case, Ravil Maganov, the chairman of Russia’s second-largest oil giant Lukoil, passed away on Thursday after falling from a hospital window in Moscow.
He is the latest in a line of executives to pass away suddenly and without apparent cause.
The 67-year-old had apparently fallen to his death, according to reports in different Russian media, although the details of his fall were not immediately clear.
According to a source in law enforcement, the death was a suicide, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. According to the source cited, Maganov suffered a heart attack and was on antidepressants in addition to being hospitalized.
The information was not confirmed by Reuters. According to three persons who had a strong relationship with Maganov, they did not think he would have committed suicide.
Although the source had not seen any proof or documentation to back it up, another insider with the firm claimed that Lukoil management believed he had committed suicide.
The state Investigative Committee was contacted by Reuters with issues regarding the death, but the state Investigative Committee did not react.
Private corporation Lukoil competes with Rosneft, the largest state-owned energy company in Russia. Maganov “passed away following a serious illness,” the statement read.
“Lukoil’s many thousands of employees mourn deeply for this grievous loss and express their sincere condolences to Ravil Maganov’s family,” it said.
In the recent months, at least six other Russian businessmen—the majority with links to the energy sector—have passed very unexpectedly and without apparent cause.
With the exception of Sergei Protosenya, a former top management of Russia’s biggest liquefied natural gas production Novatek, who was discovered in a property in Spain together with the bodies of his wife and daughter, all of the fatalities occurred in Russia. Regional police in Catalonia, who are looking into the crime, have stated that they think he killed them before killing himself.
Soon after Lukoil’s founding in 1993, Maganov began working there and soon rose to the position of chairman. He oversaw the company’s exploration, production, and refining. Tatneft, a modest-sized Russian oil firm, is led by his brother Nail.
Unusually for Russian businesses, Lukoil voiced its opposition to Moscow’s interference in Ukraine in public. The corporation’s board of directors issued a statement on March 3 expressing their sorrow over the “tragic events” in Ukraine and calling for the “soonest possible end to armed conflict” via discussion.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department has been imposing sectoral sanctions against Lukoil since 2014 as a result of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
In addition to having refineries in Europe, particularly Italy, Lukoil is attempting to grow its operations in Africa. Rosneft, which has acquired multiple oil-producing assets around Russia, has long been rumoured to be interested in buying it. Both Rosneft and Lukoil have refuted the rumours.
