Russian Tycoon Found Dead

A Russian tycoon has been found dead alongside his wife and daughter just days after another tycoon’s family was murdered.

Spanish officials are investigating the bizarre deaths of the Russian gas executive, who was found hanged outside his Spanish villa, and his wife and daughter who were both discovered knifed to death inside the residence.

Investigators are said to be working on the premise that Sergey Protosenya, 55, killed the two women with an axe and knife, before taking his own life in the courtyard of his Lloret de Mar villa on Spain’s Costa Brava.

However, according to reports, the evidence does not conclusively point toward this explanation, as no suicide note was found on the property and it seemed steps had been taken to ensure there were no fingerprints on the murder weapons.

The investigation remains open, officials have said.

The bodies of the trio were found on Tuesday, just a day after another Russian tycoon was found dead with his wife and daughter in their Moscow apartment, in another conspicuous murder-suicide involving a gun.

Beside the body of multimillionaire Vladislav Avayev, 51, was his wife Yelena, 47, and younger daughter Maria, 13. The bodies – all with gunshot wounds – were found by the couple’s devastated daughter Anastasia on Monday.

In both cases, the men had connections to Russian gas companies – several of which have faced western sanctions since Vladimir Putin began his invasion of Ukraine.

Protosenya, who had a fortune of over £330 million, was Deputy Chairman on the Board of Directors for natural gas company Novatek for seven years.

Avayev was previously a vice president at Gazprombank – a bank that was established to work for Russian gas giant Gazprom – and had also been a Kremlin official.