The Warsaw-based Centre for Eastern Studies has documented roughly 40 suspicious or unexplained deaths among Russia's political and business elite through 2025, though the article stresses this is not evidence of a coordinated campaign. It points to deaths at Lukoil, where Ravil Maganov died in 2022, successor Vladimir Nekrasov in 2023 and vice-president Vitaly Robertus in 2024, and to Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash in August 2023 after leading a June 2023 mutiny. The author argues that such losses, along with large-scale asset seizures, could erode institutional memory, independent judgment and investment incentives, creating continuity risks in energy, logistics and overseas operations. Although Russia has shown it can replace leaders, political mechanisms that secure the regime may also reduce the economic initiative and professional autonomy it needs over the long term. The piece also notes that sanctions and wartime market changes remain more direct explanations for industry disruption.
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