The series of suspicious deaths among Russian businessmen continues. A former top manager of the tech giant Yandex has died under unclear circumstances while fishing.
Serghei Loiter, aged 42, drowned near Volgograd while fishing on the Volga River. He held the position of Commercial Director at Yandex between 2022 and 2024, and subsequently worked at Yango.
According to the Russian press, Loiter’s body was identified among the three missing fishermen reported last weekend. In the same incident, real estate entrepreneur Sergei Nazarov, whose body has not yet been found, and his driver, Igor Prohorov, who was found first, also lost their lives.
According to sources cited by the Russian press, injuries to Prohorov’s body were observed, with suspicions that the boat may have capsized or hit an obstacle.
Loiter’s death places him among at least 20 top managers who have died in Russia under mysterious circumstances since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Among the recent cases is that of Alexei Sinitsin, found deceased under shocking circumstances in 2024, as well as Dmitri Osipov and Mihail Kenin, whose causes of death have not been clarified.
The wave of deaths reached a critical point in 2022, when several leaders in energy and finance died under suspicious circumstances. Leonid Shulman was found dead in a residential complex, and former vice-president Vladislav Avaev was discovered lifeless alongside his family, in an apartment in Moscow.