Russian oil chief Ravil Maganov dies after ‘hospital fall’

The chairman of a Russian oil giant that spoke out against the war in Ukraine has died after plunging from a fifth-floor window in Moscow, the latest in a string of mysterious deaths of Russian energy executives.

Ravil Maganov, 67, died today of his injuries at the elite Central Clinical Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment, Russian media reported. He was the chairman of Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer.

RBC, a Russian news site, cited police sources as saying that the fall occurred at the hospital at 7.30am local time. Other reports said that he was being treated for heart problems and depression and that suicide had not been ruled out. He did not leave a suicide note.

Baza, a Russian media outlet with links to the security services, said Maganov had fallen after climbing on to a windowsill to smoke. It said a pack of cigarettes had been found at the scene.

It alleged that no CCTV was available because cameras had been turned off for repairs. Lukoil said only that Maganov, who took over as chairman in 2020, had died in hospital “following a serious illness”. He began working for the privately owned oil company in 1993.

Lukoil was one of a handful of Russian companies to publicly condemn President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It called the war a tragedy and urged an immediate ceasefire. Some analysts said the statement, which was only published in English, was an effort to deter tough western sanctions against the company; Lukoil has more than 200 petrol stations in the United States.

Maganov is the sixth Russian energy executive, and the second with links to Lukoil, to die in unclear circumstances since Putin ordered tanks into Ukraine. Alexander Subbotin, a former Lukoil board member who owned a shipping company, died in May after reportedly ingesting toad venom that was given to him by shamans to cure a hangover.

Last month Yuri Voronov, a millionaire businessman with ties to Gazprom, the Kremlin-owned energy giant, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head. His body was discovered in the swimming pool of a luxury property near St Petersburg. Shell casings and a Grand Power handgun were also found at the scene. It was unclear who owned the weapon.

Vladislav Avayev, a former Gazprombank vice-president, and Sergei Protosenya, a senior manager at Russia’s Novotek energy giant, were both reported to have died in murder-suicides in April.

Although Russia has some of the highest suicide rates in the world for men, their deaths have roused suspicion that they fellfoul of the Kremlin.

Igor Volobuev, another Gazprombank vice-president, said that he suspected that Avayev was framed. “He might have known something. He might have posed a threat,” he said, without elaborating. Volubuev fled to Ukraine after the invasion.