Mysterious death of Ivan Sechin, son of Putin's ally, fuels speculation amid Russian oligarchy

Ivan Sechin's death came to light via an entry in the inheritance register that intrigued Leon Nezvlin, a past manager of the Russian firm Yukos. Additional scrutiny confirmed that Ivan Sechin was the son of Igor Sechin, a key confidant of President Vladimir Putin and the chairman of Rosneft, the Russian energy conglomerate. Igor Sechin is considered to be one of Russia's most significant figures.

Ivan Sechin, like his father, was employed at Rosneft. The company's board included former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Ivan garnered recognition at the early age of 25 when Vladimir Putin was personally awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. Before his death, he resided in the exclusive "Europa 1" district in Krasnogorsk, a suburb of Moscow. This area has been identified by the news portal Bloomberg as a dwelling place for Putin's allies.

Interestingly, an unofficial cause of his death has been said to be a blood clot, similar to reports regarding the death of Alexei Navalny from Russian propaganda channels.

Ivan Sechin's death adds to a string of such puzzling incidents involving Russian oligarchs and their families since the war in Ukraine started. Since 2022, a minimum of nine senior managers and millionaires who made their fortunes in the Russian energy sector, like Sechin, have died.