Vitaly Robertus, vice president of the Russian oil company Lukoil, has died suddenly at the age of 54, becoming at least the fourth manager of the Russian energy giant to die under unknown circumstances in less than two years, the Interfax agency reports, citing News.ro.

“He will remain in our memory as a talented leader, a flexible person and a sensitive friend”, – says the condolences of the Lukoil company. Robertus has been working at Lukoil for 30 years, after graduating from college.

Since President Vladimir Putin launched the war in Ukraine, there have been many unexplained deaths—dozens—of prominent Russians, but most of them have been in the energy sector.

Vitaly Robertus was found dead right in his office at the enterprise. The Russian press wrote that it would be suicide and that the vice-president of “Lukoil” would be found hanging by a string.

His colleagues informed the law enforcement officers, who promptly arrived at the scene, that recently there has been a tense atmosphere at work, and the vice president himself recently had a conflict with senior management.

In total, over the past two years, about 20 top managers of Russian oil and gas companies have died under mysterious circumstances. At Lukoil, this is already the fourth case of the “sudden” death of a top manager.

Two presidents of Lukoil have died in the last two years

In May 2022, former Vice President Oleksandr Subbotin died. According to media reports, the death may have occurred during a failed session with shamans, when Subbotin tried to cure his alcohol problems with frog poison.

In September 2022, Ravil Maganov, the chairman of the board of directors of Lukoil, died at the age of 67. Russian mass media write that he fell from the window of the hospital.

The company said that Maganov “died after a serious illness.” His place was taken by Volodymyr Nekrasov, who also died a year later, in October 2023, at the age of 66 from heart failure, the company said in a statement.

Last month, Ivan Sesyn, son of Igor Sesyn, CEO of Russian oil giant Rosneft, died suddenly at the age of just 35, but his death was not announced until two weeks later.

Ivan Secin also worked for Rosneft since March 2014 and was even awarded by the Kremlin when he was only 26 years old for outstanding services to his homeland.