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Photo: Igor Russak / dpa
The Russian oligarch Yuri Voronov was found dead on Monday, according to consistent media reports.
The 61-year-old with alleged connections to the Russian state-owned company Gazprom is said to have been discovered with a gunshot wound to the head in the swimming pool of his villa in a suburb of St. Petersburg.
According to the British tabloid Daily Mail, a pistol and empty shell casings were lying on the edge of the pool.
Russian websites also reported on the case.
According to reports, Russian investigators assume that Voronov died as a result of a dispute with business partners.
His wife said the oligarch believed he had been cheated out of a lot of money by "dishonest" contractors.
Voronov headed a logistics company that had contracts with Gazprom in the Arctic.
Deaths among Russian entrepreneurs have apparently been increasing since the beginning of the year
It is reportedly the sixth influential Russian entrepreneur to die since the beginning of the year.
Some of them are said to have ties to Gazprom.
According to the Daily Mail, three - including Voronov - were found dead in the same suburb of St. Petersburg.
Accordingly, the exact circumstances of death could not always be clarified, in most cases the oligarchs are said to have committed suicide.
The other victims, according to the report, are Alexander Tyulakov, a senior Gazprom official, Leonid Shulman, head of transport at Gazprom Invest, Alexander Subbotin, a former executive at energy giant Lukoil, Vladislav Avayev, a former Kremlin employee, and Sergei Protosenya , ex-vice-chairman of the Kremlin-affiliated company Novatek.
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