Something strange is going on. Who is killing Russian billionaires?
Another Russian oligarch has been found dead. Reports suggests that he hanged himself, fell out of.
A window, slashed his wrists, was poisoned, murdered his whole family.
Last year, more than a dozen Russian oligarchs died in the space of nine months. Many of the deaths are suspicious with links to the Kremlin. This is sad Oligach, an investigation into these recently dead Russian billionaires. It's created by me jake Hanrahan and my colleague Sergei Slipchenkov. Sad Oligarch is a h eleven production for Kulsomdia and iHeartRadio.
One day after Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February twenty twenty two, Alexander t Yulokov hanged himself in the gary of his villa in Russia's Leningrad of Blast, specifically the village of Leninskoya. Tulukov was sixty one years old. According to multiple sources from Russian media, a suicide note was found next to the body, Its contents, though.
Have yet to be revealed in full.
Tulukov worked for Gazprom, a multinational energy corporation owned in the majority by the Russian government. Tulukov was the deputy general director of Gazprom's Unified Settlement Center for Corporate Security, a serious role. Leninskoya, where he lived and died, has been nicknamed by locals as Gazprom's nest as so many Gazprom managers have houses there. Tulukov was wealthy, and his
house in Leninskoya showed it. The Tulukov house was surrounded by beautiful conifer trees and set back in the woods, a nice place to live. The minimum cost of an average house in that area is upward of five hundred thousand dollars. Tulukov's corpse was found by a woman he lived with and her ex husband. It's unsure if the woman was his girlfriend or just rented a room at the house. Either way, the body was discovered hanged in a noose in the garage and the police were called.
The police arrived and got to work. Then a short time later, something strange happened. As police tended to the scene, three black jeeps pulled up outside the house. Several men got out. They belonged to Gazprom's private security. They immediately pushed out the police. Investigators cordoned off the area and seized the evidence. Independent Russian newspaper Navaya Gazetta, an adversarial outlet that's known for being critical of the Kremlin, interviewed
people at the scene. They spoke to an employee of the Investigative Committee for the Leningrad Region. This person, who wished to remain anonymous, said the following quote, Everything that concerns the village of Leninskoya is immediately reported to us. Personally, I saw a man in a noose with some piece of paper lying on the floor of the garage. Forensic specialists were already working when stronglooking guys arrived in three jeeps.
They declared they were Gazprom's security service. They calledon off the territory and we and most of the policemen were simply sent away outside of the cordon of the house ends quote Who were these people? How is it that Gazprom security was able to outrank the police. To get an idea of how security worked at Gazprom, we looked at local job postings in Russia for security services in the Gazprom companies.
Sergei explains, I couldn't find a specific company or like a specific I guess I don't know, like section of Gasprom that specifically has security, like when they're when you're like, here's a job offering for a security guard, uh, and it basically just says you're working for gas Prom, which just means like the main security head of gas Prom.
You know.
There's no like separate entity or anything. It seems to be just like internal gas from security guards. And from my understanding that's basically who came kicked the police out. I don't know for sure, but going based off other uh kind of other situations and from what Anderson how Russia operates, my guess would be the cops kind of understand that once gas Prom is there, it's kind of above their pay grade. I think they know that, like if gas from security is there, you know, very connected
to put into the Russian higher ups. I think they know kind of it's time to pack up and step out of the way. So anything related to curreny they always look for military service.
Currently, a company called Radu is doing the recruiting for Gazprom security. That's who's hiring from the job of a surgery was reading. Radu is a Russian private military contractor and security firm. It's even formed its own mercenary units sent out to fight against Ukraine through REDU. Gazprom itself also has a private military contractor unit taking part in
the Russian invasion of Ukraine right now. Recently, this unit released a video condemning another Russian private military contractor unit who they clash within an occupied area of Ukraine. So one Russian PMC is fighting with another Russian PMC whilst both are sent on the same mission by private Russian government linked firms to invade a foreign country. It's extremely messy, but as you can see, Gazprom is not just an energy company. Essentially, gaz Prom holds a lot more power
across Russia. Much more is at stake for its executives. To understand Gazprom's power and how Alexander T. Yolokov might have gotten on the wrong side of that, we need to look at where Gazprom came from. Gazprom's origins date back to the nineteen forties, when Russia was ruled by
Stalin's Soviet Union the USSR. In nineteen forty three, in the midst of World War two, the USSR formed its first domestic gas industry, was later centralized as the Ministry of Gas, which discovered large natural gas reserves in the nineteen seventies and eighties. This helped the USSR become a major player in the gas industry. By nineteen eighty three, the USSR was the world's leading producer of natural gas.
They exported the gas to many countries across Western Europe, something the USSI became dependent on to keep the country going, ironic considering that now its Western European countries that are the most dependent on Russia's gas exports. By nineteen eighty nine, the Ministry of Gas was renamed as the State Gas Concern Gazprom. The name Gazprom is a mix of two words in Russian that simply means gas industry. The renamed department was Gazprom in its infancy, as it became the
ussa's first state run corporation. When the USSR collapsed in nineteen ninety one, most of Gazprom was transferred to state owned companies and the assets remained in Russia. Everyone involved formed a total gas sector monopoly. Gasprom grew rapidly, extending its branches into many other industries, such as banking, media, security, and oil. This monopolized, major state owned energy company exporting
internationally gave the Russian government big leverage. By two thousand and seven, the number of Gazprom's personnel was more than four hundred thousand people. It became the world's largest supplier of natural gas, with an estimated annual net profit of over nine billion dollars. By twenty twenty, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands were Gazprom's biggest customers outside of regions within the former Soviet Union.
By twenty twenty.
Two, Gazprom was sporadically shutting off gas to Western Europe as a threat to countries helping Ukraine resist Putin's invasion. Putin allegedly owns four point five percent of Gazprom himself, adding to his hidden fortune which is speculated to be around round two hundred billion dollars. In twenty twenty twelve, the independent Russian news outlet, The Moscow Times compared Gazprom
to an organized crime syndicate. They said, quote, Gazprom in many ways is more important in advancing the Kremlin's foreign policy than the Defense Ministry or the Foreign Ministry. In short, the way Gazprom is run is an accurate model for how Putin rules Russia. Since two thousand and one, Gazprom's management has been dominated.
By three groups.
The CEO's young Saint Petersburg economists, a group of Saint Petersburg KGB officers both closely linked to Putin, and the third group of old Gazprom officials. Putin himself has arbitrated between these three factions, preventing any one of them from gaining the upper hand, using a classic divide and rule strategy. Putin thus re obtains the ultimate responsibility for the company
end quote. The KGB that's mentioned in that quote was, of course, the Soviet Union's notoriously brutal security and intelligence agency. The spiritual successor to that is the FSB, the current Russian security and intelligence agency. Many interchangeably refer to the current day FSB as the KGB. Clearly, it's no secret that Gazprom has a sizeable FSB Putin loyalist presence within
the inner circles, specifically in Saint Petersburg. But was Alexander to Yolokov part of that It's possible turns out he actually used to work for the FSB through the early nineties. Then in nineteen ninety nine he began working for Gazprom in where Saint Petersburg. A decade after that, in two thousand and nine, he became Gazprom's deputy general director and
then deputy for Corporate Protection and personnel Management. I think it's safe to say it's not unlikely that to your Lokov at least had some proximity to this FSB circle within Gazprom. It's worth noting that largely the FSB is alleged to carry out any dirty work for the Kremlin, including extra judicial violence. But what has all this got to do with to your Lokov hanging himself in his garage.
There's more to this story.
Reports in the media from an unnamed witness at the scene say that to your Locov returned home bruised and beaten the day before he was found dead. He looked as if someone had beaten him up. As we mentioned earlier, to yu Lookov was the deputy general director of Gazprom's Unified Settlement Center for Corporate security. Unified Settlement Center acts as the Gazprom Treasury. According to journalist Matthew Cooper. There
were rumors in Russia that there were problems there. It's alleged that a hole was found in a twenty twenty one internal corporate audit, Cooper writes, quote, according to people in the know, most likely to Ulokov's structure failed to avoid sanctions losses which divided the life of a top manager into before and after end quote. Still these are just rumors. What isn't rumor, though, is the removal of
Alexander to Yulokov's photos from Gazprom files. When reporters from Neveya Gazetta requested images of ta your Lokov from Gazprom so that they could use it in their article, they'd all been removed. Russian journalist Maxim Leonov wrote about this, saying, quote, the central office of Gazprom said that they did not have any information about an investigation into the death of Alexander to your Lookov. At the same time, we were
not even able to obtain photographs of the deceased. One of the employees of the press service of Gazprom admitted that the photos of to your Lokov were removed from their sites in order to prevent the spread of rumors and to spare the nerves of the relatives and friends of the victims end quote.
This is odd.
Why remove the photos and so quickly. Gazprom's reasoning is that it could cause pain for the family if the photos are left in the Gazprom files. I'd argue that it's a lot more pain for the family if a company erases their loved ones from the records immediately after their suicide. This is what Gazprom did to Alexander to your Lookov, after he'd worked there in a very prestigious position for more than twenty years. They wiped him off the face of the planet as far as Gazprom is concerned.
And not to mention the fact that Gazprom's security took over the scene and pushed out the police, and yet they said that they were unaware of any investigation into Alexander to your Lokov's suicide. All of this, to me seems even more unusual when you consider that Alexander to your Lookov was not the first Gazprom suicide at the so called Gazprom nest last year. On January twenty ninth, twenty twenty two, Gazprom executive Leonid Shilman was found dead
at his home with both wrists slashed. A suicide note was found next to his body. This occurred just twenty seven days before Alexander to Yulokov was found dead in the same area just down the road, also with a suicide note next to his body. Reports are conflicting on who found him. Some say it was his ex wife and children, some say his girlfriend, and some say the police were first to turn up. Leonid Shilman was the
head of transport services at the investment subsidiary of Gazprom. Shilman, who was sixty years old when he died, lived in an affluent gated community in the same area as to your Lookov. Both were residents at Gazprom's nest. Shilman was found dead in his bathroom with his wrist ouoken. According to reports, utility knife was found by his side, as well as the suicide notes. We looked at the police photos from the scene. The bathroom has an all marble finish, with the bath to the right.
Of the room.
The bathtub is filled around half way with blood and water. Shulman's corpse is lying face down on the floor beside the bath. Blood is smeared on the marble near his feet. Shulman has a metal Ilizarov apparatus around the lower half of the right leg. This is an external fixator which stabilizes and holds broken bones into their correct position to help them heal. Shulman had a complicated bone fracture after
a recent accident. The fixator on his leg appears to be broken, with loose parts on the floor next to Shulman's feet. Crutches are laid out on the floor across the room, next to where Shulman's head is positioned. Shulman's body appears to be laid out on top of towels or a blanket. What's not visible in the photo is the suicide note or the utility knife the Russian authorities say Shulman killed himself with. We do, though, have other police photos of the suicide note removed from the scene.
It was written in a notebook. Whether the photos of the bathroom scene were taken after the note was removed, or if it was out of shot, or if it wasn't even there, we don't know. The following is from Shulman's suicide notes, which was published in Russian media. Quote, I'm tired of having to deal with constant medical treatment. I don't want to become an invalid or a burden. Remember me as happy and cheerful. Yours, Lenya, Dad, thank you Sunshine for everything.
PS.
I love you all ends quote. Lenya is short for Leonide. There's more to the suicide note, but the rest has been blurred out, presumably by the Russian authorities before it was released publicly. According to this suicide note and Russian state media reports, Shilman killed himself due to the complications with his fractured right leg. Whilst we don't know if there were further unknown medical problems with it, the fractured leg alone seems an unusual reason to kill yourself as
a wealthy sixty year old. The elizard of apparatus he had installed is painful, sure, but this can be somewhat alleviated with medication. Shulman had money, he had access to premium health care. He would have, of course, had access to strong painkillers. Nevertheless, apparently he killed himself in the bath by slitting both his wrists with a utility knife also known as a Stanley knife or a box cutter.
Shulman then, perhaps in a bid to try and save himself, climbed out of the bath before falling flat and dying on the tiles. That's what the official story and the police crime scene photos suggest. Anyway, as is with many of these oligarch deaths, we've discovered that there's more to it. Multiple Russian state backed media sources mentioned that there was an internal investigation into the finances of vehicles in the department that Shulman headed at Gazprom.
It seems like there was an investigation to why the company was bleeding money. There was like a reshuffling in I think twenty twenty or so, and it was kind of promised, as you know, we will change the structure, will change the higher ups, and the company is going to get more profits. But instead it kept on dropping.
Perhaps one of those reasons that was identified was corruption. Right, people are stealing money off, you know, the typical order or some kind of repair order parts and half of those parts aren't actually purchased, half of the money is pocketed. It seems like Shuliman he was somewhere higher up in the transport unit. He would have been the one responsible for ordering any kind of repairs, approving deliveries, orders.
Surgery looked into an open source database online documenting these orders in Shulman's department.
This one specifically is called jos Zakupac. Like gas prompts purchasing portal, I guess, they show which purchases are made, it shows when it was ordered, if it was repeated, and then it shows the total price.
This is where evidence of corruption in Schulman's department is set out in black and white.
On the order forms, two identical purchases were made for repairs two months from each other for one point two million rouble. So that's about fifteen thousand or sixteen thousand US dollars kind of a lot for only two months in between. Like, how many cars are you fixing? How many cars are actually like needing this maintenance? Right, Schulman would probably be the one that would like authorize this. Perhaps he can make the order himself. This kind of
activity is pretty normal. You know, order something, skim half of it, and just report that the entire order was made and came but it doesn't exist.
So he potentially took about fifteen grand back com out of that from doing absolutely nothing but faking some documents.
Yeah, you know, just file a couple of extra reports, file a couple electus I don't know, maintenance ledgers, you know, say you fixed x many cars, say you get it a couple more tires or whatever, you know, make it look clean. It never actually happened, but I mean, who's gonna really prove at that point? Is probably what they thought. I don't think they expected to have that investigation started. From what I understand, the investigation was coming to a close.
They never it was in like a private internal investigation, so not much details came out about it, but it seems like around the time they died, the investigation was coming to a close. Schulmann specifically was kind of aware that he would be identified as the guy stealing money, and maybe he offed himself. It's very possible that he might have been made an example, you know, if you steal from us is what happens. Mostly speculation, but the
factor remains that it's pretty weird circumstances, same village. I don't know if they actually knew each other, but clearly they worked in the same structure, like same company structure, you know they I'm sure they knew of each other, especially when they lives on nearby.
A pro Kremlin media outlet called the Moscow Post had a reporter on the ground in the region where Shulman died. They also speculate that he was stealing money from Gazprom through the fake orders. They back this up with some pretty convincing evidence, which if it's pro Kremlin media as this is, it can be sort of considered almost as
a reworked press release from the state. This evidence shows purchase orders from Shulman's department for parts for cars that were purposely over christ Who did the extra money go to, as Surgery just explained, probably Shulman. The Moscow Post also shows that vehicles in Shulman's department were on paper excessively serviced. Services were also overpriced. Seeing as Shulman was in charge of all of this, he was quite likely the one that skimming off the top. This I think leads to
three possible realities. One Shulman actually did kill himself due to the pain in his leg. Two, Shulman killed himself because he knew he might be going to prison after stealing from Gazprom. And three, Shulman was murdered due to his theft from Gazprom. Me and Surgery were speaking about this specifically with regards to Putin's close proximity to Gazprom and how he feels people engaged in corruption stealing right out of his pocket.
Remember Putin talking about kind of selling Russia, and that's what he described Ukraine as, right in twenty fourteen. He says that like the politicians that did the whole revolution, well, according to him, it was like all orchestrated, right, he's saying, he calls that like selling out to the West, along the lines of if you're stealing from Russia, you're a trader, you're you're as bad as like those in the West, et cetera, et cetera.
So I think that would be a view he holds.
You know, although I don't think he sees it as stealing from Russia. I think he sees as stealing it from himself or kind of from his group.
You know.
It's like if you're going against the grain in his group, you're wrong. Like, he doesn't care if he's stealing from the Russian people, if he's taking money from you know, Gasprom whatever other state company, like. I don't think that phases him at all. It's when you do something that's kind of like I guess you think you did. You had one over Putin himself, and I think that extends just kind of culture, like it's embarrassing to him. And if you embarrass him, that's like that's more than enough.
This is a very relevant theory. Remember, Putin allegedly owns four point five percent of Gazprom himself. Gazprom is massive. It holds around fifteen percent of all global gas reserves, has branched off into banking, media, and oil, and now even has its own paramilitary forces on the ground invading Ukraine. Earlier this year, Putin lauded Gazprom in a video address to the CEO. He said, quote, the whole of Russia
is proud of Gazprom. Over the previous thirty years, global gas consumption has almost doubled, and in the next twenty years, according to expert estimates, it will add at least another twenty percent. Despite unfair competition direct attempts from the outside to hinder and restrain its development, Gazprom is moving forward, launching new projects end quote. It's clear Gazprom holds a special place in Putin's heart. If someone steals from Gazprom,
they're quite literally stealing from part of his empire. Anyone working relatively high up at Gazprom will know this. Leonid Schumann would have known this. He took a risk and was likely found out.
It's very possible that Leonid Schulmann just understood what it meant if he was found out and he was kind of like, you know what, fuck it, I'll do it myself. Very possible. You know, he got into this knowing what he's doing, who he's dealing with, and you know, there's so many other cases of falling out of windows even before all this. I think he knew what was coming. Probably, I think it's like an open secret that the way Russia's run. I think a lot of people in Russia
understand that as well. But I think they still don't want to air their dirty laundry completely.
You know.
I'm look at tu lack of February twenty fifth, right, twenty twenty two, literally the day I think it was the morning of the invasion. It's pretty convenient timing. Maybe Tu Lacos just kind of off himself, knowing the pressure and what was coming. But February twenty fifth, he's found beat up or at least very bruised. The previous day, you know, and then all of a sudden he takes
his life. You know, maybe maybe he just kind of knew it was coming and decided to do it, or they used the very big, you know, huge news that was taking all over all the news media for the next month or so, the Ukraine War. It's a great thing to kind of squeeze in the death there. Nobody would probably even notice notice.
Said Oligach is a H eleven production for Couzone Media and IHA Radio. Hosted, produced, researched and edited by me Jake Hanrahan and Sergey Slipchenko. Co produced by Sophie Lichtman. Music by Sam Black, artwork by Adam Doyle, soundmix by Splicing Block. Go to Jacanrahan dot com for more information.