The mystery of Russia's falling tycoons: Why so many oligarchs are dying out of windows

Time of India

a day ago

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Who was Andrey Badalov and why is his death raising eyebrows?
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Why do Russian elites keep 'falling' from windows?
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Could these deaths be part of a wider Kremlin crackdown?
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Another Russian billionaire has died in strange circumstances, and the pattern is too scary to ignore. Since the invasion of Ukraine, high-ranking executives, oil tycoons, and government officials have died in strange "falls," which makes people very worried about what is really going on behind closed Kremlin doors.Andrey Badalov, a top Russian oil executive, is the most recent well-known person to die in a strange fall. Reports from the government say the deaths were suicides, but experts and critics think they are part of a larger purge that sends a scary message to anyone who doesn't follow the rules.Andrey Badalov, 62, the vice president of Transneft , fell 180 feet from the 17th floor of a posh apartment complex on Moscow's Rublevskoye Highway, where he lived on the 10th floor. According to reports, investigators were "working at the scene,' as per a report by The Mirror.According to a source, "suicide" is the "preliminary cause" of death. A letter purportedly written by Badalov to his wife was discovered, but alternative versions are being investigated. The business magnate was married and had two daughters.According to one source who spoke to TASS, Badalov's body was discovered beneath the windows of an apartment building on Rublevskoye Interstate.Russia's state oil pipeline monopoly, Transneft, is run by 74-year-old Nikolai Tokarev, a former KGB spy who spent the Cold War in Germany alongside 72-year-old Vladimir Putin.Badalov had attended the Armed Forces' General Staff Academy, which prepares top-level officers and state administrators. He had helped Transneft "effectively overcome the challenges posed by Western sanctions" since joining the company four years prior, "during a complex and tense period."Since Putin began planning his invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, Russia has been plagued by a string of unexplained deaths of executives connected to the oil and gas sectors. Since the conflict started, 11 people have died.Although they are frequently classified as suicides, there have been several instances where questions have been raised.Ukrainian journalist Denis Kazansky made the following mocking post today: "Top managers of YUKOS and Lukoil have already fallen out of windows before.What are you laughing at? They just fall out of windows themselves. Russian oil workers have this professional deformity. As soon as they approach the windows, their legs immediately give way."Lukoil chairman Ravil Maganov died in 2022 after he fell from a sixth-floor window at the Kremlin Clinic, Moscow's prestigious Central Clinical Hospital. The final Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, had passed away that same week, and Putin rushed into the hospital that morning to pay his final respects.Leading war official Marina Yankina was discovered dead in 2023 after plummeting 160 feet from a window on the 16th floor of a St. Petersburg building.Lastly, in October 2024, Mikhail Rogachev, the former vice president of an oil company, died after falling from his Moscow apartment on the tenth floor.Numerous Russian businessmen, government officials, and industry leaders have passed away under suspicious circumstances since the beginning of 2022.While many of these cases are officially classified as suicides, others involve alleged murder-suicides, unexplained falls, or mysterious accidents.Gazprombank's vice president, Vladislav Avayev, was discovered dead in Moscow in April 2022 along with his wife and daughter. Sergei Protosenya, a former executive at Novatek, a gas producer, was found dead at a Spanish villa a few days later, along with his wife and daughter.According to Ivan Stupak, a former security service (SBU) officer and Ukrainian military analyst, many of these deaths are probably the result of Russian security services.According to Stupak, not all of the deaths have political motivations; some might be the result of embezzlement, unpaid debts, internal business rivalries, or borrowed funds. Since 2022, at least seven of these occurrences have been documented.According to Stupak, it would take at least two people to physically throw someone out of a window, making it a dangerous and noisy activity. As demonstrated by the tragic death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a suspicious plane crash inside Russia in 2023, the intention may occasionally be to convey a specific message. He thinks that infighting and declining economic opportunity will only fuel the trend, as per a report by Kyiv Independent.Officially, many are classified as suicides, but critics and analysts believe the sheer number and pattern indicate something more sinister is going on.Experts believe it could be the result of business feuds, political dissent, or failure to cooperate with the Kremlin's tightening grip on power.