Alexander Nikolayev, a 72-year-old seasoned diplomat from Russia, passed just three weeks after being the victim of an unidentified attack close to his country home in the Tver region.
Prior to Vladimir Putin‘s takeover of Crimea, Nikolayev held the position of senior Russian diplomat there. Nikolayev was savagely attacked in an unreported event.
After the brutal attack, Nikolayev was allegedly “covered in blood, haematomas, and bruises” and unable to breathe without a ventilator, according to his family, who then accused the Russian police of conducting a subpar investigation into the assault.
Despite being rushed to one of Moscow’s top hospitals, Nikolayev remained in a coma and eventually succumbed to his injuries.
Following his work in Crimea, Nikolayev later served as the Russian ambassador to Bangladesh before transitioning to working for Rosatom, the state nuclear energy corporation, in 2016.
His murder was later highlighted by Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko as the latest in a series of suspicious deaths of those with high-ranking connections to the Russian energy sector.
The family of Nikolayev sought the assistance of renowned Russian human rights expert and journalist Eva Merkacheva to investigate his death.
She revealed that a local Cossack leader, who had close ties to the police, confessed to having an altercation with an unidentified individual whom he pushed.
The incident occurred near a shop in a village near Konakovo town in the Tver region.
The Cossack leader, Alexander Konopenko, is currently under house arrest, and the Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into Nikolayev’s death.
From 2003 to 2008, Nikolayev served as Russia’s Consul-General in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, before the peninsula’s forceful annexation by Putin in 2014.
Nikolayev, survived by his wife and two daughters, adds to the list of mysterious deaths associated with the Russian energy sector since the conflict with Ukraine began.
While the precise nature of Nikolayev’s role at Rosatom remains unclear, the circumstances surrounding his demise raise significant concerns.