Moscow’s elite in shock as another close Putin ally suddenly dies: Gazprom ‘wonderkid’ and Kremlin insider Nikolay Petrunin is no more
Rumours are flying in Moscow today as it has emerged that another one of Vladimir Putin’s close allies has suddenly dies.
Nikolay Petrunin, a 46-year-old Russian multimillionaire and a close confidant of the Russian president, is no more.
The official reason by authorities was that the Gazprom executive has died as a result of complications caused by Covid. He had reportedly been in a coma for several weeks.
Petrunin was one of the most important executives at energy giant Gazprom. He was also vice-Chairman of the prestigious Energy Commission of the Russian Parliament. He was considered an extremely close ally of Putin.
Petrunin was dubbed the “gas wonderkid” of Russia. He entered politics after a career of making gas pipelines in Siberia.
His sudden death raises questions, however, with many Russians discussing his death on Telegram and social media. the war in Ukraine.
LUKOIL executive
Petrunin’s death comes only five weeks after the head of Russia’s biggest privately held oil producer, who criticised the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, died after reportedly falling out of a hospital window.
Ravil Maganov, chair of the board of LUKOIL, died in mysterious circumstances, according to Russian-language site Interfax.
The company is the biggest privately held oil producer in the country, and in March openly criticised Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement posted on its west to shareholders, LUKOIL’s board expressed “its deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine” in March.
Shortly before his death, the US department of justice obtained a warrant for seizure of a $45M plane owned by PJSC LUKOIL.
In November 2019, Maganov was pictured with Putin at the Kremlin receiving the Order of Alexander Nevsky, a state honour.