Russian oil tycoon found dead amid 'feud' in HQ of Kremlin-linked energy giant
A Russian oil tycoon has been found dead in an office at his Kremlin-linked firm after apparently taking his own life, it's been reported.
Lukoil boss Vitaly Robertus is the fifth senior figure at the energy company - the second largest oil giant in Russia - to be found dead since Putin's war on Ukraine broke out two years ago. His death was announced on Wednesday, although the exact circumstances remained shrouded in mystery.
The company has also not publicly commented on the vice-president's death. Telegram channel VChK-OGPU - which has close law enforcement links - cited friends and associates who said he Mr Robertus feared he would be set up to face criminal proceedings amidst bitter feuding at the upper eschelons of the US-sanctioned firm.
Mr Robertus had held a meeting with senior vice president for Sales & Supply at Lukoil Oleg Pashaev before returning to his office, reported the channel. But when he wasn't picking up calls, Pashaev later went to find him.
He went into his office at the oil company’s Moscow HQ and discovered Robertus dead. Company medics were called to the scene, rather than a normal ambulance, but couldn't revive him. A probe has since been launched into his death.
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“Colleagues told the arriving law enforcement officers that recently there had been a nervous atmosphere at work and the vice president [Robertus] was very worried,” reported the channel. The company - which initially opposed Putin’s war - has already seen a line of deaths of prominent figures.
In November, Russian senator and war backer, Vladimir Lebedev, with close Lukoil links, died suddenly in an unexplained “terrible tragedy” aged 60. He had close business ties to Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, chairman of the Lukoil board of directors, who died “suddenly” in October from “acute heart failure”.
Lebedev was also a longstanding friend and hunting partner of Vladimir Putin’s closest Kremlin aide, Sergei Kiriyenko, 61, a former Russian prime minister and the dictator’s deputy chief of staff, the man in charge of ensuring the despot’s victory in this week’s presidential election.
Meanwhile, former tycoon Ravil Maganov died in September 2022 after falling from a sixth floor window at Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital - also known as the Kremlin clinic. While suspicions were raised of murder, Raganov, 67, had been at the clinic for a longstanding heart problem.
Ravil Maganov, pictured with Putin, who died falling from a window at the 'Kremlin clinic' hospital in Moscow (Kremlin/EAST2WEST NEWS)His mysterious death came the same morning Putin - who once presented Maganov with a top award - visited the hospital to pay respect to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who had died the same week. In May of that year, billionaire and Lukoil manager Alexander Subbotin, 43, was found dead after “taking advice from shamans”, it was announced.
One theory is that Subbotin - who also owned a shipping company - was poisoned by toad venom triggering a heart attack. Lukoil initially appeared less than loyal to Putin when the war started, demanding negotiations to end the fighting.
The company's board issued a statement one week into the war which expressed “concern over the ongoing tragic events in Ukraine and its deepest sympathy to all those affected by this tragedy". The board, which included Maganov and Nekrasov, said: “We are in favour of an early cessation of the armed conflict and fully support its resolution through the negotiation process and diplomatic means.”
Lukoil top manager Alexander Subbotin (https://ptoday.ru/east2west news)Following Mr Robertus' death, Lukoil issued a statement in tribute but gave no detail on the circumstances of his death. “Over 30 years of work at Lukoil, he earned the respect of colleagues not only within the company but also across the industry as a whole,” said the statement.
“For his contributions to the development of the domestic fuel and energy complex, he was honoured with state and departmental awards. He will be remembered in our hearts as a talented leader, a versatile individual, and a compassionate comrade.”
Mr Robertus had been one of Russia’s most talented aero-modellers. He was an Honoured Master of Sports of the Russian Federation, and a seven-time champion of Russia in aero-modelling, as well as a four-time World Champion. He was also a qualified plane and helicopter pilot.
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