A TOP Russian banker has died suddenly from a “heart attack” at the age of 42, the latest in a series of prominent early deaths.
Nikolay Vasyov was senior vice president of Sberbank, the country’s largest financial institution.
Initial analysis by doctors said his “untimely death” was due to a “heart attack”, said the bank.
However, further details were not released on the circumstances of his death.
“It is with deep regret that we inform you that today Nikolay Vasyov, senior vice president, Head of the B2C Customer Experience Development block of Sberbank, suddenly passed away,” a statement read.
“According to the preliminary conclusion of doctors, death was due to a heart attack.”
His death follows a number of prominent business and banking figures dying young or in unusual circumstances since Vladimir Putin prepared for his invasion of Ukraine.
It comes amid deep strains in Russia’s financial sector caused by Putin’s war and the impact of Western sanctions.
Sberbanks profits plunged almost 80 per cent last year, alone.
A statement from Sberbank said: “The bank’s management and colleagues mourn the untimely death and express deep condolences to the family and loved ones of Nikolay Vasyov.”
Vasyov had been closely associated with mortgages and loans at Sberbank and appeared to be close to the pro-Putin head of the bank, German Gref, a former government minister.
“Nikolay is a passionate professional, bold in his decisions, inquisitive and open to new knowledge,” said Gref of him in 2020.
“I thank Nikolay for his strong results.”
Vasyov’s passing follows the mysterious death of the third top executive at Russia’s second largest oil company within a year and a half.
Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, chairman of the Lukoil board of directors, died “suddenly” last month.
Russian state media said at the time that the “preliminary” conclusions of doctors was that Nekrasov suffered “acute heart failure”.
His death follows that of tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, who fell from a window of Moscow’s elite Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin clinic, in September last year.
There were suspicions of murder but Maganov had been in hospital for a longstanding heart problem prior to falling from a sixth floor window, dying on the spot.
Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, also linked to energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May 2022 after “taking advice from shamans”.
One theory is that Subbotin – who also owned a shipping company – was poisoned by toad venom triggering a heart attack.
Among other cases during the war was wealthy Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Kremlin official, who appeared to have taken his own life after killing his wife Yelena, 47, and daughter, 13.
He had high level links to leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank.
Friends disputed reports that he was jealous after his wife admitted she was pregnant by their driver.
There were claims he had access to the financial secrets of the Kremlin elite.
Several days later multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in Spain, after evidently killing his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter, Maria, with an axe.
He was a former deputy chairman of Novatek, a company also closely linked to the Kremlin.
As with Avayev, it is suggested this may have been an assassination made to appear a murder-and-suicide.
Naked Yevgeny Palant, 47, a mobile phone multi-millionaire, and his wife Olga, 50, both Ukrainian-born, were found with multiple knife wounds by their daughter Polina, 20.
Tom Malley
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