Russian high-ranking executive discovered beheaded below a bridge, enshrouded in another perplexing fatal incident
In a series of unexpected events, several high-profile Russian business leaders have passed away under mysterious circumstances over the past two years. The latest casualty is Alexei Sinitsyn, the general director of K-Potash Service, who was found dead under a bridge in Kaliningrad.
Sinitsyn, who was 49 years old at the time of his death, leaves behind his wife, Elena, and their two daughters. The circumstances surrounding his death are shrouded in mystery, with the Russian Investigative Committee currently investigating the case.
Before his untimely demise, Sinitsyn was involved in a significant project. K-Potash Service, a company with ties to the Netherlands and Cyprus, oversees the largest extraction of potassium sulphate and magnesium sulphate at the Nivenskoye deposit in Kaliningrad. The project was touted as set to become a "world leader in the production of chlorine-free mineral fertilisers based on potassium and magnesium."
Sinitsyn's death is not an isolated incident. In a pattern that first emerged just before the war in Ukraine began, other Russian business leaders have met with similar fates. For instance, Ravil Maganov, chairman of Lukoil, died after plunging from a sixth-floor window at Moscow's elite Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin Clinic.
Alexander Subbotin, former top manager of Russia's second-largest oil company, Lukoil, was found dead in May 2022 in the basement of a house in Mytishchi. Local media reported that Sinitsyn had financial links to Subbotin.
The list of mysterious deaths includes Mikhail Rogachev, a former vice president at Yukos, who died after falling from his tenth-floor apartment in Moscow, and Andrey Badalov, a 62-year-old oil tycoon, who fell from the 17th floor of a luxury Moscow tower block. Badalov was the vice president of Transneft - Russia's state-owned oil pipeline operator and the largest company of its kind in the world.
In February 2023, defence official Marina Yankina mysteriously died after falling 160 feet from a 16th-floor window in St. Petersburg. In March 2024, Lukoil vice president Vitaly Robertus was found hanged in his office toilet.
The deaths of these business leaders have raised concerns, with some suggesting a pattern of suspicious activities. The Kremlin and the Russian government have yet to provide a comprehensive explanation for these tragedies.
Before his appointment as Kremlin Minister for Industry and Trade, Anton Alikhanov was the Governor of the Kaliningrad Region. He had previously overseen the development of K-Potash Service's significant project.
In a surprising turn of events, Russia's top judge, Irina Podnosova, also died in July 2022, according to official sources. The circumstances surrounding her death are not as mysterious as those of the business leaders, but her passing added to the growing list of high-profile deaths in Russia.
The company K-Potash Service had planned £528 million in investments, making Sinitsyn's death a significant loss for the industry. The investigation into his death is ongoing, and the public awaits answers to understand the circumstances that led to his passing.
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