Two top Russian executives die suddenly days apart as tally of mysterious deaths reaches 18
In Russia, news emerged on August 11 about the death of Mikhail Kenin, 56, the founder and co-owner of Samolet, one of the country’s largest developers. A day later, on August 12, media reported the sudden death of Dmitry Osipov, 59, chairman of the board at Uralkali.
The number of top executives who have died for various reasons since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has reached about 18, according to calculations by the Telegram channel Professor Preobrazhensky.
As the outlet GiperNN reports, Kenin founded the Samolet development group together with businessman Igor Yevtushevsky. He served on the company’s board and was a co-owner. For years, Samolet operated in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Moscow and Leningrad regions before expanding its footprint. In 2023, the developer won an auction to oversee comprehensive development in the Leninsky district of Nizhny Novgorod.
As of early August, the group ranked first in Russia by the volume of housing under construction.
Kenin’s name often appeared in society pages amid rumors of a romance between his daughter, Michelle, and pro-Kremlin singer Shaman. Michelle Kenina is a successful tennis player and a finalist at several European tournaments.
The relationship did not lead to marriage, as Shaman reportedly began dating Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the League for Safe Internet.
According to fakeoff.org, Kenin was more than a developer: he was considered a nominal holder of a stake for the clan of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his close ally, Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov.
After Shoigu reportedly fell out of favor with President Vladimir Putin, Kenin’s fortunes also worsened. Samolet’s shares plunged 65%, and 22% of its projects fell behind schedule. On July 22, reports said Kenin was urgently seeking a buyer for his 30% stake (valued at 25–30 billion rubles), but he did not close a deal. Earlier, billionaire God Nisanov quietly exited as a shareholder.
The cause of the billionaire’s death on August 10 was not disclosed. Given recent events, some journalists consider the circumstances suspicious.
Dmitry Osipov was chairman of the board at Uralkali, the world’s largest producer of potassium chloride, which operates five mines and seven fertilizer plants in Russia, Interfax reported.
He previously held senior roles at Khimprom, Sibur-Khimprom, and the Kirovo-Chepetsk chemical plant. Osipov served as Uralkali’s CEO from 2013 to 2020, then led titanium producer VSMPO-Avisma, and returned to Uralkali in 2023.
The company described his death as “sudden,” without specifying a cause.
Political analyst Ivan Preobrazhensky writes that over the past three and a half years, at least 18 senior executives at major companies have died under mysterious circumstances.
- In January 2022, Leonid Shulman, 60, head of the transport service at Gazprom Invest, was found dead in an elite village in the Leningrad region.
- A month later, in a Moscow apartment, authorities found the bodies of former Gazprombank vice president Vladislav Avaev, his wife, and their daughter.
- In May 2022, former senior manager at Russian oil giant Lukoil, billionaire Alexander Subbotin, died under mysterious circumstances.
He had attended an anti-hangover session with a shaman named Magua in Mytishchi and had ingested toad poison. His condition deteriorated and he died before paramedics arrived.
- In July 2022, Yuri Voronov, 61, CEO of transport company Astra Shipping, which worked on Gazprom’s Arctic contracts, was found with a gunshot wound to the head in a cottage settlement on the Gulf of Finland.
- In fall 2022, Ravil Maganov, 67, chairman of Lukoil’s board, fell from a window at the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration.
- His successor, Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, died a year later from “acute heart failure.”
In March 2024, Lukoil vice president Vitaly Robertus died at age 54. The company did not disclose the cause or circumstances.
- In February 2023, Vyacheslav Rovneyko, CEO of the Interregional Fuel Union, was found dead at a home on Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway outside Moscow.
- In October 2024, former Norilsk Nickel deputy director Mikhail Rogachev fell from the window of his Moscow apartment.
- Former Novatek top manager Sergei Protosenya was found shot dead at a villa in Spain.
- Alexander Tyulyakov, a senior manager in Gazprom’s finance unit, was found dead in a garage at a home near St. Petersburg.
- In July 2025, Andrey Badalov, a Transneft vice president, fell from the 17th floor of a building on Rublyovskoye Highway.
The Moscow Times added several more high-profile and suspicious deaths to the list.
- Pavel Pchelnikov, communications director at Digital Logistics (Russian Railways), was found on a Moscow apartment balcony with signs of suicide.
- Pavel Antov, founder of Vladimirsky Standart, fell from a hotel window in India.
- Ivan Pechorin, an executive at the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, fell off a boat during a cruise near Russky Island.
- After a party, Loko-Bank vice president Kristina Baykova fell from a window, and Igor Shkurko, first deputy head of Yakutskenergo, was found dead in a Yakutsk pretrial detention center.