Vitaly Robertus, 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 Wednesday.
Robertus' death was announced in a statement on Lukoil's website. His cause of death has not been disclosed. This is at least the fourth Lukoil executive to die since Russia's war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
The company announced that Robertus has worked with oil giants for more than 30 years, starting as an economist and has received “state and ministerial awards for success in developing domestic fuel and energy complexes.” .
A press release on Lukoil's website said: “He will remain in our memories as an able leader, a versatile person and a sympathetic comrade.” “The LUKOIL team extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Vitaly Vladimirovich Robertus.”
According to Russian publication RTVI, Robertus is the fourth Lukoil top executive to die in the past two years.
In May 2022, former top manager of Lukoil, Alexander Subotin, died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 44. He was found dead in agony in the basement of a shaman's house in Mytish, a city northeast of the capital Moscow. It was an apparent heart attack, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Mr. Tass reported that he visited Sherman's home in a state of severe alcohol and drug intoxication “the day before” his death. His body was found in a basement believed to have been used for “Jamaican voodoo rituals.”
A few months later, on September 1, 2022, Lukoil Chairman Rabil Maganov was found dead after falling from a hospital window in Moscow. The circumstances surrounding the 67-year-old's fall remain unclear. He had worked for Lukoil since 1993, but the company's news agency reported that he died “after a serious illness.”
In October 2023, Vladimir Nekrasov, chairman of the company's board of directors, reportedly passed away at the age of 66 due to acute heart failure.
In March 2022, Lukoil publicly criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The company's board issued a statement at the time expressing “deep concern over the tragic events in Ukraine.”
“We call for an early end to the armed conflict and express our deepest sympathies to all the victims affected by this tragedy. We strongly support a durable ceasefire and a resolution through serious negotiations and diplomacy,” the statement said. “I will.”
Since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been a number of other unexplained deaths of prominent Russians.
In December 2022, Pavel Antov, a wealthy sausage tycoon who was a member of Putin's United Russia party and had previously criticized Putin's invasion of Ukraine, was found dead after falling out of a window in India. Ta.
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