Lukoil, fourth suspicious death in anti-war company in Ukraine

In May 2022, a former top manager of Lukoil, Alexander Subbotin, died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 44. He was found dead in the basement of a shaman's house in Mytishchi, a town north-east of the capital Moscow, after suffering an apparent heart attack, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.

Tass reported that the man had gone to the shaman's home 'in a state of severe alcohol and drug intoxication the day before' his death. His body was discovered in a basement, apparently used for 'Jamaican voodoo rituals'.

Months later, on 1 September 2022, Ravil Maganov, chairman of Lukoil, was found dead after falling from a hospital window in Moscow. The circumstances of the 67-year-old's fall remain unexplained. He had worked at Lukoil since 1993. The company's press service reported that he died 'after a serious illness'.

In October 2023, Vladimir Nekrasov, chairman of the company's board, died at the age of 66, reportedly from acute heart failure.In March 2022 Lukoil publicly criticised Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "We support an early end to the armed conflict and fully support its resolution through a process of negotiation and diplomatic means," Lukoil's board of directors had said in a note.

It's not just Lukoil. Last November, the vice-president of Sberbank, Nikolai Vasev, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 42. This is only the best-known name in a long list of managers and senior officials who have died under mysterious circumstances since the start of military operations in Ukraine in February 2022.

Lukoil has been the owner of the Sicilian refinery in Priolo for years. Last May the change of ownership for the Isab refineries with the handover of ownership from Lukoil to the Cypriot company Green Oil (Goi) Energy, in a deal worth, according to some sources close to the dossier, one and a half billion euros.