What happened to Nikolay Vasyov? The top banker from Russia is reported dead aged 42. How he died, fortune, spouse, kids, and more explored.
The death toll in Russia among the country’s prominent business and banking figures dying young or in unusual circumstances unexpectedly keeps increasing monthly this year.
There are more than 30 high-profile Russians who have died since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
The latest top personality to be included in this list is Nikolay Vasyov, senior vice president of Sberbank, the country’s largest financial institution.
Here’s everything we know about Nikolay Vasyov; his cause of death, net worth, wife, and children.
What happened to Nikolay Vasyov?
Russian banker Nikolay Vasyov has been reported dead in November 2023.
Per sources, he died suddenly from a “heart attack”.
He was 42 years old.
Initial analysis by doctors said his “untimely death” was due to a “heart attack”, said the bank.
However, further details were not released on the circumstances of his death.
“It is with deep regret that we inform you that today Nikolay Vasyov, senior vice president, Head of the B2C Customer Experience Development block of Sberbank, suddenly passed away,” a statement read.
“According to the preliminary conclusion of doctors, death was due to a heart attack.”
His death follows a number of prominent business and banking figures dying young or in unusual circumstances since Vladimir Putin prepared for his invasion of Ukraine.
It comes amid deep strains in Russia’s financial sector caused by Putin’s war and the impact of Western sanctions.
Sberbank profits plunged almost 80 percent last year, alone.
A statement from Sberbank said: “The bank’s management and colleagues mourn the untimely death and express deep condolences to the family and loved ones of Nikolay Vasyov.”
Who is Nikolay Vasyov?
Nikolay Vasyov was senior vice president of Sberbank, the country’s largest financial institution.
Vasyov had been closely associated with mortgages and loans at Sberbank and appeared to be close to the pro-Putin head of the bank, German Gref, a former government minister.
“Nikolay is a passionate professional, bold in his decisions, inquisitive, and open to new knowledge,” said Gref of him in 2020.
“I thank Nikolay for his strong results.”
What was Nikolay Vasyov’s net worth?
Nikolay Vasyov had amassed a decent fortune at the time of his death.
In a career that spans years in the financial sector, Nikolay Vasyov had an estimated net worth of at least $1 million.
Who are Nikolay Vasyov’s wife and children?
There are no reports about Nikolay Vasyov’s personal life, but he is believed to be married.
However, details about the banker’s spouse are unknown.
Also, Vasyov is a father but no reports about his kids are made public.
Which other personalities and high-profile people have died in Russia?
Vasyov’s passing follows the mysterious death of the third top executive at Russia’s second-largest oil company within a year and a half.
Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, chairman of the Lukoil board of directors, died “suddenly” last month.
Russian state media said at the time that the “preliminary” conclusion of doctors were that Nekrasov suffered “acute heart failure”.
His death follows that of tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, who fell from a window of Moscow’s elite Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin Clinic, in September last year.
There were suspicions of murder but Maganov had been in hospital for a longstanding heart problem prior to falling from a sixth-floor window, dying on the spot.
Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, also linked to energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May 2022 after “taking advice from shamans”.
One theory is that Subbotin – who also owned a shipping company – was poisoned by toad venom triggering a heart attack.
Among other cases during the war was wealthy Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Kremlin official, who appeared to have taken his own life after killing his wife Yelena, 47, and daughter, 13.
He had high-level links to the leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank.
Friends disputed reports that he was jealous after his wife admitted she was pregnant by their driver.
There were claims he had access to the financial secrets of the Kremlin elite.
Several days later multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in Spain, after evidently 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.
As with Avayev, it is suggested this may have been an assassination made to appear a murder-and-suicide.
Naked Yevgeny Palant, 47, a mobile phone multi-millionaire, and his wife Olga, 50, both Ukrainian-born, were found with multiple knife wounds by their daughter Polina, 20.