Igor Shkurko, a senior energy executive in Russia, was discovered dead in his cell at a prison facility in the port city of Yakutsk in eastern Siberia.
The day before he passed away, Shkurko, the deputy general director of the Russian energy firm Yakutskenergo, had filed appeals against the charge that he had demanded a £5,000 bribe.
Shkurko’s death is yet unknown to the public, but according to “preliminary data,” there were no indications that it was a “criminal death.” Since Vladimir Putin’s conflict in Ukraine began more than 13 months ago, a number of high-ranking energy officials have died mysteriously. Shkurko’s death is one of them.
Shkurko belonged to the United Russia political party, which supports Vladimir Putin, but his membership was suspended after the bribery claim was made.
Nevertheless, his business released a statement lamenting his passing, describing him as “an open, hospitable person with a big heart and a good sense of humor, the caring head of a close-knit family.”
Shkurko, a married father of two sons, was in command of Yakutskenergo’s technical management division. Yakutia, the world’s coldest region, receives electricity from this company.
A series of suspicious deaths involving the Russian energy giant Gazprom were linked last month by the investigative news organization Novaya Gazeta Europe and Transparency International Russia to a sophisticated “money-laundering scheme” that benefited a senior gas executive’s family as well as Putin’s security services and military allies.