The beautiful Russian daughter of a Putin ally was discovered dead in her flat after apparently complaining of feeling ill.
The concierge of Natalia Bochkareva’s building in Moscow’s Presnensky District sounded the alarm, leading to her discovery.
Before discovering her dead on Tuesday, police officers pounded on the door.
The 44-year-old had complained of feeling ill the day before, according to the concierge.
According to preliminary reports, there were no signs of a violent death.
Her death is the latest in a long line of high-profile Russian figures to suddenly die in mysterious circumstances.
Ms Bochkareva was the daughter of the late Vasily Bochkarev, who governed Penza Oblast from 1998 to 2015.
A year after leaving office, the 67-year-old, who belonged to Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, died from lung cancer.
Ms Bochkareva managed the family’s lumber-processing and bakery businesses after her father’s death.
Two years ago she hit headlines for falling for scam. It’s reported she sent a self-styled fortune teller 16 million rubles (£136,000) to remove a curse.
But after receiving the money, the fortune teller broke off all contact with Natalia and, according to Ms Bochkareva, failed to fulfil her part of the agreement.
The police ended up getting involved.
According to some reports, Natalia suffered from heart problems.
Other recent deaths of Russia’s elite include that of 28-year-old Kristina Baikova in June.
Ms Baikova, a vice-president at Loko-Bank, allegedly fell from her 11th floor apartment in Moscow.
In February Russian defence official Marina Yankina, 58, also fell from an apartment window and died.
As head of the financial support department of the Ministry of Defence, Ms Yankina was a key figure in the funding of the war.
Her death was reported as a suspected suicide – although this is common in Russia before any investigation is carried out or when facts are unclear.
In May meanwhile, Russia’s deputy science minister, Pyotr Kucherenko, thought to be a critic of the war, died suddenly after falling ill on a flight back to Moscow after a work trip in Cuba, the Mail Online reports.
In April, Igor Shkurko, the deputy general director of Russian energy company Yakutskenergo, was found dead in his prison cell
The 49-year-old was a member of the pro-Putin United Russia political party but his membership was suspended following the bribe accusation.
Two months earlier, Russian oil boss Viatcheslav Rovneiko, 59, was ‘found unconscious’ late at night at his home.
Doctors were unable to save him, a report in Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper claimed.
On December 26, Pavel Antonov – a wealthy sausage tycoon, local politician and a Putin critic – died in India after falling out of a hotel window.
His friend Vladimir Bidenov was found dead in the same hotel four days earlier.