Another Russian tycoon has been found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, a former top executive with Kremlin-friendly energy giant Lukoil, is the latest in a number of high profile, suspicious deaths since Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine.

The mogul had sought the advice of shamans to cure a hangover, according to the official version of events, but his death comes as the deaths of other prominent tycoons are under the spotlight which critics of Putin's regime say could be murders.

The oligarch, who owned a lucrative shipping company, was reportedly treated with toad venom - put into an incision that had been made in his skin. Soon afterwards, Subbotin had a heart attack and was given a tranquilliser from the herb valerian.

The next morning he was found dead by male and female shamans Magua Flores (real name Alexey Pindyurin) and Tina Cordoba (Kristina Teikhrib), according to local reports citing the version of events shared by Russian law enforcement.

The pair reportedly treat clients by summoning the spirits, sacrificing animals and bathing them in cockerel blood.

Separately, the two controversial shamans - or traditional healers and diviners of spirits - are embroiled in accusations that they abused a makeup artist and blogger during a trip to Mexico last year.

They told state investigators that Subbotin was a friend and denied that they subjected him to shamanic rituals for payment.

Subbotin, reported by REN TV to be a billionaire, was a board member of Lukoil Trading House LLC, then became the owner of the New Transport Company (NTK) on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.

In 2020, NTK was headed by his older brother Valery, who also holds a leading position at Lukoil.

A law enforcement source told KP news outlet: 'The deceased is Alexander Subbotin. The man was very wealthy. He was 43. 

'The preliminary cause of death is cardiac arrest.'

Four other billionaires and two executives connected to state-owned gas and oil giant Gazprom have died since Russian troops began preparing to invade their neighbour in late January.

In one case, wealthy Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Kremlin official, appeared to have taken his own life after killing his wife and daughter, 13.

He had high level links to leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank - a band set up specifically to serve Gazprom.   

Several days later multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in Spain, after allegedly killing his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter, Maria, with an axe. He was a former deputy chairman of Novatek, a company also closely linked to the Kremlin.

But there are claims that the two cases are assassinations made to appear murder-and-suicides, based on evidence that doesn't stack up.

Two other 'suicides' have also been queries as suspicious.

Alexander Tyulakov, 61, a senior Gazprom financial and security official at deputy general director level, was discovered by his lover.

In the same elite Leninsky gated housing development in Leningrad region three weeks earlier, Leonid Shulman, 60, head of transport at Gazprom Invest, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor.

Vladislav Avayev, a former Kremlin official who also served as vice-president at Gazprombank, appeared to have taken his own life after shooting dead his wife Yelenaand daughter Maria on the 14th floor of his luxury Moscow.

The grisly scenes were discovered by his distraught eldest daughter Anastasia.

Igor Volobuev, 50, who recently quit his top Moscow role at the prominent gas-for-roubles bank to fight against Russia in his native Ukraine, insisted at the end of April the executive's death was 'staged' as a suicide.

He also claimed the death several days later of multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, by hanging in Spain, after his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter Maria were hacked to death by an axe, was an assassination.

(Source: Daily Mail)