The series of deaths of top managers and businessmen that swept across Russia shortly after the start of the war with Ukraine continues into 2025.
On Tuesday, August 12, it became known about the death of Dmitry Osipov — chairman of the board of directors of Uralkali, the world’s largest producer of potassium chloride, which owns five mines and seven fertilizer plants in Russia, reports The Moscow Times.
Previously holding leadership positions at Khimprom, Sibur-Khimprom, and the Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Plant, Osipov died at the age of 59, Interfax reported citing the press service of Uralkhim (which controls Uralkali).
Osipov’s death was described by the company as "sudden," with no cause specified. Osipov served as CEO of Uralkali from 2013 to 2020, then headed the titanium producer VSMPO-AVISMA, and returned to Uralkali in 2023.
Osipov’s death is the second among top managers and major business owners within a week. The day before, Mikhail Kenin, founder and main shareholder of the Samolet Group — Russia’s largest developer — passed away. The causes of his death remain unknown.
In total, at least 17 top managers of large companies have died under mysterious circumstances in the last three and a half years. In January 2022, Leonid Shulman, 60, head of Gazprom Invest’s transport service, was found dead in an elite village in the Leningrad region.
A month later, the bodies of Vladislav Avaev, former vice-president of Gazprombank, his wife, and daughter were found in a Moscow apartment.
In July 2022, Yuri Voronov, 61, CEO of the transport company Astra Shipping, which worked on Gazprom’s Arctic contracts, was found dead in an elite cottage village near the Gulf of Finland, with a gunshot wound to the head.
In fall 2022, Ravil Maganov, 67, chairman of Lukoil’s board of directors, fell from a window of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration in Moscow. His successor, 66-year-old Vladimir Nekrasov, died a year later from "acute heart failure." In March 2024, Vitaly Robertus, Lukoil’s vice-president, died at age 54. The company did not disclose the causes or circumstances of his death.
In February 2023, Vyacheslav Rovneyko — co-owner of the Belgian oil trading company Nafta (B) N.V. and CEO of the Interregional Fuel Union — was found dead in a suburban house on Rublyovo-Uspenskoye highway.
In October 2024, former deputy director of Norilsk Nickel, Mikhail Rogachev, fell from his apartment window in Moscow. In July 2025, Andrey Badalov, vice-president of Transneft, fell from the 17th floor of a building on Rublyovskoye highway.
Also, Sergey Protosenya, former top manager at Novatek, was found shot dead at his villa in Spain; Alexander Tyulyakov, top manager of Gazprom’s financial division, was found dead in a garage near St. Petersburg.
Pavel Pchelnikov, communications director of Digital Logistics (Russian Railways), was found with signs of suicide on a balcony in Moscow. Pavel Antov, founder of Vladimir Standard, fell from a hotel window in India. Ivan Pechorin, director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, fell off a boat during a trip near Russky Island.
Kristina Baykova, vice-president of Loko-Bank, fell from a window after a party. Igor Shkurko, first deputy head of Yakutskenergo, was found dead in a Yakutsk detention center.
