Vitaly Robertus, the vice president of Russian oil giant Lukoil—the country’s second-largest oil producer—has died “suddenly” at the age of 54, the company announced on Wednesday.
The death of Robertus was announced in a statement on Lukoil’s website. The cause of his death wasn’t stated. This marks at least the fourth death of a top executive at Lukoil since Russia’s war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty Images
The company said Robertus had been working with the oil giant for over 30 years, starting off as an economist, and that he had been awarded “state and departmental awards for his success in the development of the domestic fuel and energy complex.”
“In our memory he will remain a talented leader, a versatile person, a sympathetic comrade,” a press release on the Lukoil website said. “The LUKOIL team expresses deep condolences to the family and friends of Vitaly Vladimirovich Robertus.”
Vitaly Robertus, the Deputy CEO of Russia’s largest oil company Lukoil has suddenly died.
He was 53 years old.
Any guesses regarding the cause of death? pic.twitter.com/2nWh1O3x9Q
— Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇦 (@rshereme) March 14, 2024
Robertus is the fourth top manager of Lukoil to die in the last two years, Russian publication RTVI reported.
In May 2022, a former top manager of Lukoil, Alexander Subbotin, died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 44. He was found dead in the basement of the home of a shaman in Mytishchi, a city northeast of the capital Moscow, after suffering an apparent heart attack, state-run Russian news agency Tass reported.
Tass reported that he went to the shaman’s home “in a state of severe alcoholic and drug intoxication the day before” his death. His body was discovered in a basement reportedly used for “Jamaican voodoo rituals.”
Months later, on September 1, 2022, Ravil Maganov, the chairman of Lukoil, was found dead after falling from a hospital window in Moscow. The circumstances surrounding the 67-year-old’s fall remain unexplained. He had worked at Lukoil since 1993. The company’s press service reported that he had died “after a serious illness.”
In October 2023, Vladimir Nekrasov, the chairman of the company’s board of directors, died aged 66, reportedly from acute heart failure.
Lukoil in March 2022 publicly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The company’s board of directors issued a statement at the time expressing “its deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine.”
It said: “Calling for the soonest termination of the armed conflict, we express our sincere empathy for all victims, who are affected by this tragedy. We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy.”
There have been numerous other unexplained deaths of prominent Russians since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In December 2022, Pavel Antov, a member of Putin’s United Russia party and a wealthy sausage tycoon who once criticized Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, was found dead after a fall from a window in India.
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