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Telegraph
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Oligarchs living in fear as Putin purges take bloody toll
Dead by suicide. Detained on a private jet. Sentenced to more than a decade in prison. It has long been a cut-throat world for the Russian elite, but the recent spate of blood-letting – both literal and figurative – has shocked serving and former government officials, who spoke with The Telegraph anonymously amid fear of reprisals. People who might once have been seen as untouchable, either through their political connections or loyalty to Vladimir Putin, have found themselves out of favour, out of office and, on occasion, falling out of windows. The war in Ukraine has upended the status quo, with the Kremlin nationalising businesses to plug its coffers while corporate 'raiders' compete ever more violently for a shrinking piece of the pie. 'It all looks horrifying,' said a former official from the Russian presidential administration. 'If you look at the recent arrest of top state company executives, the mysterious deaths, people in government and politics are, pardon my French, s----ing themselves.' In July alone, Andrei Badalov, the vice-president of state-owned pipeline company Transneft, fell to his death from a balcony at his home. A former deputy defence minister was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on charges of corruption, only for a fellow military official to go down for 17. Meanwhile, state security drove the nationalisation of the country's largest airport, taking it from the hands of owners with dual citizenship, while the Bombardier jet of billionaire gold tycoon Konstantin Strukov was boarded to prevent him from fleeing the country.
Metro
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Metro
Mystery after two Putin cronies are found dead on same day
On the same day that a Russian minister was found dead hours after being sacked, a second man in the same department dropped dead. Deputy head of Russia's Federal Road Agency's Property Management Department, Andrey Korneichuk, reportedly stood up and collapsed in his office. Paramedics declared the 42-year-old dead at the scene, with initial reports finding his heart just 'stopped'. The sudden death has raised eyebrows, given that his boss, Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit, was found dead with gunshot wounds on the same day. There's no indication the incidents are linked, but the timing of the men's sudden deaths is hard to ignore, given the high level of Russian officials who seem to die after being dismissed from their jobs or speaking out against President Vladimir Putin. Starovoit, 53, was sacked after barely a year as transport minister without an official explanation. Russia's Investigative Committee, the top criminal investigation agency, said the body of Starovoit was found with a gunshot wound in Odintsovo, a neighbourhood just west of the capital where many members of Russia's elite live. He's the most recent Russian politician close to Putin to die in mysterious circumstances. Sergei Markov, director of Russia's Institute of Political Studies, shocked the country when he went on the record and suggested Starovoit was murdered. 'The Russian elite was shocked by the suicide of Roman Starovoit, the former Minister of Transport, just a few hours after Putin removed him,' he said. 'But it seems to me that those who eliminated him – that is, those against whom he could have testified after his arrest – are trying to hide his real murder by using the suicide version.' Starovoit was last seen in public on Sunday morning when an official video from the ministry's situation room featured him receiving reports from officials. The death came days after an oil tycoon who had links to the KGB became the latest high-profile figure to mysteriously fall from a high building in Russia. More Trending Transneft vice-president Andrey Badalov, 62, is said to have fallen from the penthouse of the luxury high rise where in lived in Moscow. 'Badalov's body was found under the windows of an [apartment building] on Rublevskoye Highway,' a source told TASS. Transneft is Russia's state oil pipeline monopoly which is run by former KGB spy, Nikolai Tokarev, 74, who served with Vladimir Putin, 72, in Germany in the Cold War. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Nato scrambles warplanes after Putin unleashes heaviest strikes of the war MORE: Trump complains about Putin's 'bulls***' during Ukraine peace talks MORE: Wagner Group 'proxies' carried out arson on Ukraine-linked warehouse in London
Spectator
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Why Putin's elites keep dying
Although I suspect few readers' hearts will bleed for them, it's been a bad week for Russian elites. There has been a spate of real or apparent suicides and the arrest of a gold magnate as he prepared to leave the country. On Friday, Andrei Badalov, vice president of Transneft, Russia's largest state-controlled pipeline transport company, fatally fell from the window of his apartment in Moscow. This makes him the eighth senior Russian figure to die in this way since 2022. Although the police say he left a suicide note, by now the suggestion that foul play is at work has become something of a tasteless meme. This is a system in which everyone is corrupt, everyone has skeletons in their closet, and this is how Putin likes it The next day, Konstantin Strukov, CEO of Yuzhuralzoloto, Russia's third-largest gold producer, was preparing to fly to Turkey on Saturday on his private jet when the government revoked his passport, the federal aviation agency blocked his departure, and bailiffs boarded the plane and arrested him. He stands accused of massive, systematic corruption, using his financial and political muscle to seize coal and goal assets and then registering them under the names of relatives and other proxies. Then on Monday, Roman Starovoit was dismissed from his position as transport minister, although it seems he was already lying dead in his car, with his own pistol – ironically, a ceremonial one he was awarded in 2023 – next to him. Until last year, he had been governor of the Kursk region, and it seems that his successor, Alexei Smirnov, who is already under arrest for the wholesale embezzlement of a fifth of all the funds intended for the construction of defences against a Ukrainian attack, had also implicated Starovoit. Inevitably, the gossip is of forcible defenestrations, of a new purge, but the truth is likely at once less sinister and yet more worrying for the Kremlin. The state does kill, but in the main doesn't need to do so to members of the elite. This is a system in which everyone is corrupt, everyone has skeletons in their closet, and this is how Putin likes it: he has the excuses he needs whenever he wants someone made into an example. The humiliating arrest on camera, the show trial, the expropriation of the obscene riches accumulated through corruption and cronyism – these are the weapons of the Kremlin. Some, probably most of these suicides are probably exactly what they seem. The redefinition of the economy because of militarisation and sanctions has created winners and losers; high interest rates and the closing of many old export and import routes has led to selective pressures. In some cases, businesspeople may have taken their lives because personal and business pressures became just too much – and however outré it may sound, there are national propensities for suicide methods. Most suicides in the US are, predictably enough, by gun; in India, it is common to take pesticides; In Hong Kong, and Russia, people jump from tall buildings. Yet not all of these deaths are necessarily genuine suicides either. The increased pressures on the economy do seem to be pushing some more sharp-fanged or desperate business-political interests into more brutal competition for assets. As the national pie shrinks, the fight to retain the size of your slice increases. Usually, this is through pulling political strings to win contracts or preference, or else reiderstvo, 'raiding,' using fake documents or corrupted judges to take over rival companies. Sometimes, though, more severe methods are used: contract killings are again on the rise, and while most tend to use more unsubtle methods, some 'suicides' may be distinctly involuntary. Yet for every death there are many more arrests of corrupt officials and businesspeople. Putin's unspoken social contract with the elite is that they can steal, but only within certain limits and only so long as they are loyal to the Kremlin. That is unchanged, but the acceptable limits of personal enrichment and just what 'loyalty' means seem to be shifting, and in unpredictable ways. As one Moscow insider put it to me, 'the elites are willing to stay within the red lines – but what terrifies them is that they don't know where those lines are anymore.' This even affects those who were once untouchable. Strukov, for example, was also a powerful figure within the Chelyabinsk region apparatus of Putin's United Russia bloc, and deputy speaker of regional legislature. Starovoit likewise was a United Russia stalwart and a protégé of Arkady Rotenberg, one of Putin's childhood friends, and – not uncoincidentally – one of the country's richest men. So many other recent targets were once feted. Former defence minister Timus Ivanov, just sentenced to 13 years on bribery charges, was a Hero of Russia. This looks less like a deliberate purge, and more like the convulsions of a system in slow-motion crisis. A business elite increasingly engaged in cannibalistic competition for diminishing assets, a Kremlin that mistrusts the people on whom it depends to run its country and economy, that demands compliance with unspoken, unfixed and unclear rules. It certainly doesn't mean Putinism is headed for some imminent fall. But it does demonstrate that even as the war machine continues to grind on, the damage being done to the Russian regime is very real.
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
From deadly windows to toad venom: How Putin's rivals are dying under mysterious circumstances
Roman Starovoit , Russia's former transport minister, was found dead with a gunshot wound inside a parked car in Odintsovo, a wealthy suburb near Moscow, just hours after his dismissal from office. Russian authorities, including the Investigative Committee, claimed suicide as the likely cause and noted that a gun—allegedly a ceremonial gift—was found beside him. However, reports suggest he may have died before the Kremlin publicly announced his removal, adding to growing speculation. Starovoit, 53, had last appeared in an official video on Sunday. By Monday morning, President Vladimir Putin issued a decree dismissing him from office without explanation. Russian media have linked his ouster to a corruption probe involving state funds allocated for fortifications in the Kursk region—where he had served as governor before joining the federal cabinet. His death is the latest in a troubling series of fatalities among Russian elites, many of whom have died under suspicious circumstances. Just days earlier, Andrei Badalov, a vice president at pipeline giant Transneft, reportedly fell from a Moscow window. Other recent cases involve top oil executives, diplomats, and financial officials—many dying in apparent suicides or freak accidents. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Mapp Hill: Repossessed Houses For Sale At Prices That May Surprise You Foreclosed Homes | Search ads Search Now Undo According to The Sydney Morning Herald , the list includes: Ivan Sechin , 35, son of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, died in February 2024 after reporting kidney pain at home. Vitaly Robertus , 53, Lukoil VP, was found hanged in his Moscow office in March. Dzianis Sidarenka , 48, Belarus's ambassador to Germany, fell from a window in Minsk in June. Georgy Chibisov , 44, a marketing executive, drowned in the Moskva River in July after falling off a cruise ship. Mikhail Rogachev , 64, former Yukos VP, died in October after falling from his Moscow apartment. Buvaisar Saitiev , 49, a Putin ally and Olympic champion, also reportedly died after a window fall in March 2025. Andrei Badalov , 62, was found dead on July 4, 2025—again beneath a window. Critics suggest a broader pattern, possibly involving Russia's security services. Activist and financier William Browder, who exposed Kremlin abuses in his book Red Notice , famously quipped: 'Windows are very dangerous in Russia.' Live Events Adding to the mystery, reports emerged of another unexplained death at the Ministry of Transport on the same day as Starovoit's. A 42-year-old senior civil servant reportedly died suddenly during a meeting—possibly from cardiac arrest—though no official confirmation has been released, according to Swiss news outlet Bluewin . The Sydney Morning Herald had earlier reported that 23 Russian billionaires died under mysterious circumstances in 2023 alone. Some were found after apparent suicides, others died in bizarre and brutal ways—including a gas executive whose family was reportedly bludgeoned with an axe, and one individual who died from poisoning via a shaman's toad venom. Former Russian defense minister Andrei Kartapolov added further intrigue by suggesting Starovoit may have died before the dismissal decree was made public—raising questions about the official timeline. As Russian prosecutors ramp up corruption investigations, with recent convictions of high-ranking military officials, some analysts believe an internal purge is underway. Regardless, the pattern of deaths paints a grim picture of life inside Putin's inner circle—and the risks of falling from favor.
Metro
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Metro
Russian minister sacked by Putin found dead in car with gunshot wound
A Russian minister has been found dead in his car outside Moscow with an apparent 'self-inflicted' gunshot wound hours after being sacked by Vladimir Putin. Roman Starovoit, 53, was sacked after barely a year as transport minister without an official explanation on Monday. But political analysts raised the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran. Russia's Investigative Committee, the top criminal investigation agency, said the body of Starovoit was found with a gunshot wound in his car parked in Odintsovo, a neighbourhood just west of the capital where many members of Russia's elite live. A gun previously presented to him as an official gift was reportedly found next to his body. A criminal probe was launched into the death, and investigators saw suicide as the most likely cause, according to committee's spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, who did not say when Starovoit died. Starovoit was last seen in public Sunday morning, when an official video from the ministry's situation room featured him receiving reports from officials. Russian media reported that Starovoit's dismissal could have been linked to an investigation into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for building fortifications in the Kursk region, where he served as governor before becoming transportation minister. The death came days after an oil tycoon who had links to the KGB became the latest high profile figure to mysteriously fall from a high building in Russia. Transneft vice-president Andrey Badalov, 62, is said to have fallen from the penthouse of the luxury high rise where in lived in Moscow. 'Badalov's body was found under the windows of an [apartment building] on Rublevskoye Highway,' a source told TASS. Transneft is Russia's state oil pipeline monopoly which is run by former KGB spy, Nikolai Tokarev, 74, who served with Vladimir Putin, 72, in Germany in the Cold War. MORE: Russia-Ukraine update: Missiles hit Kyiv hours after Trump phone call with Putin MORE: Russian boxer sparks anger after giving orangutan her vape to puff MORE: Major health update on toddler who was hurled onto floor at Moscow airport
