Another high-ranking crony of Vladimir Putin has died in mysterious circumstances after “falling overboard” from a boat.
Ivan Pechorin, hand-picked by leader Vladimir Putin to head up the development of natural resources in Russia ’s Arctic territories, apparently drowned while sailing his private yacht off the country’s Pacific coast.
The 39-year-old is the latest senior official linked to Russia’s energy sector and the Kremlin to die in suspicious circumstances.
He reportedly fell off the side of a boat in the waters close to Russky Island near Cape Ignatiev, said Komsomolskaya Pravda.
His body was found after a search lasting more than a day.
Development of the Arctic - a rich source of oil and gas for Russia - is seen as essential amid sanctions and unprecedented economic problems facing Putin’s economy due to his war in Ukraine.
Pechorin also had responsibility for the air industry across the vast east of Russia, a sector under strain from Western economic curbs.
The high-flyer was managing director of Putin’s Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.
The corporation issued a statement about his “tragic death” while giving few details.
“Ivan's death is an irreparable loss for friends and colleagues, a great loss for the corporation. We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends,” it said.
He recently addressed the Eastern Economic Forum led by Putin in a session aimed at beating sanctions called ‘Everyone has their Own Route: The Logistics of a Changed World’.
Pechorin is the latest in a series of unexplained deaths among Russian power-brokers from just before and during the war.
In February the corporation’s CEO Igor Nosov, 43, died suddenly from a “stroke”.
There was also an Arctic link to the death of Yevgeny Zinichev, 55, Emergencies Minister and a former Putin bodyguard.
A year ago he perished in a mystery fall at a waterfall in the Russian Arctic.
He was being groomed by Putin as his possible successor, say some experts, and there have been claims from a friend that he was murdered.
Putin appeared distraught at his funeral.
Several other members of Putin’s inner circle have died since the beginning of the year including oil tycoon Ravil Maganov and Alexander Tyulakov - a senior Gazprom financial and security official.
There has also been Yuri Voronov, head of a transport and logistics company for a Gazprom-linked company, and Vladislav Avayev, a former Kremlin official, who had high level links to leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank, who have lost their lives.
And billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, also linked to Kremlin-friendly energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May after “taking advice from shamans”.
One theory is that Subbotin - who also owned a shipping company - was poisoned by toad venom triggering a heart attack.
