The chairman of Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil who died Thursday after falling from the sixth-floor window of a Moscow hospital window is alleged to have been murdered.
Soon after his death, law enforcement sources said there was no suicide note and there were no CCTV cameras on the section of the building where Ravil Maganov, 67 fell.
Against this backdrop, Daily Mail quotes an ex-Kremlin insider claiming that Ravil Maganov was assassinated 'with Vladimir Putin's knowledge.'
General SVR, a Russian Telegram channel that regularly posts alleged insider information about Putin and the Kremlin, said Maganov was 'beaten' before he was 'thrown out of a window', Daily Mail reported.
General SVR said: 'The reason for the murder was Maganov's 'special opinion' different from the opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the creeping nationalisation of Lukoil.
'Putin not only knew about the preparation of the assassination attempt, but also gave his consent by approving the method and timing of the liquidation.'
The anti-Putin channel gave no evidence for its allegation, nor additional detail, but does claim inside knowledge from the Kremlin, which is reportedly seeking to shut it down, Daily Mail said.
His company Lukoil was one of the few major Russian companies to call for the end of fighting in Ukraine after Moscow invaded.
Maganov is the second top Lukoil executive to die in mysterious circumstances in recent months.
Russian police opened a criminal case after the death of former Lukoil executive Alexander Subbotin in early May.
Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, was one of a handful of domestic corporations to openly call for an end to the country’s invasion of Ukraine in early March.
“We stand for the immediate cessation of the armed conflict and duly support its resolution through the negotiation process and through diplomatic means,” Lukoil said in a letter to shareholders at the time.
The long-serving head of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, resigned in June after being hit by Western sanctions.