They’re Dropping Like Flies from Moscow’s Windows

An oil and gas exec in Moscow loses his battle with gravity

Photo by Pierre Châtel-Innocenti on Unsplash

Note to anyone checking into a Moscow hospital for a mysterious illness, if they put you in a room with windows, demand a room change — and then sleep with both eyes open.

If you are new to observing the goings-on of the Kremlin, let me tell you that politically-untidy people in Russia haven’t just been falling out of windows since the Ukrainian war began.

The “slipping and falling out” freak-accident excuse has been used so much over the years that it might even have a spot in the top 100 most common ways people die in Russia.

Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, said its chairman Ravil Maganov “passed away following a severe illness,” Thursday at age 67.

But citing two sources familiar with his death, Reuters reported that he died after falling from the window of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. Several Russian media outlets, citing sources from law enforcement agencies, have also suggested that he was trying to smoke when he plunged to his death (Death of Russian Oil Exec).

Lukoil came out almost immediately after the launch of the war on Ukraine in late February and stated its opposition.