Spanish officials are investigating the suspicious deaths of 55 year old Sergey Protosenya, a multi-millionaire Russian gas executive alongside his wife Natalia and their 18 year old daughter. The family were found on Tuesday 19 April 2022 in their villa on Spain’s Costa Brava. Protosenya, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors at natural gas company Novatek was said to be worth over £330 million. Protosenya is survived by his son who was in France at the time of the deaths.
Catalan police continue to search for clues into the deaths, including combing the family’s phone records and security footage.
The Spanish deaths follow eerily similar deaths of a 51 year old Russian gas executive identified as Vladislav Avayev, his 47 year old wife Yelena and their 13 year old daughter Maria, at the family’s Moscow apartment on Monday 18 April 2022. Like Protosenya, Avayev also had links with Russian gas, with previous roles as vice president of Gazprombank.
The macabre deaths follow two other deaths of gas industry executives – one on 25 February 2022 when 61 year old Alexander Tyulakov was found by his partner and the second in late January 2022 involving 60 year old Leonid Shulman. Both of the men lived in the same Leninsky gated housing community.
Although at this stage investigations continue into all of the deaths, reports suggest that all four of the dead men had links with Putin’s inner circle.
