NEWS

Evgeniya Chaykovskaya

Vladimir Kondrachuk, a co-owner and chairman of Trans Nafta oil and gas company, was found dead in his Moscow office on Saturday. He died from a gun wound to his head. The police think he committed suicide.

The businessman's body was found Saturday evening in his office, his honorary weapon was lying next to it. The police suspect suicide, but additional expertise is taking place. There were no suicide notes next to the body.

The news about Kondrachuk's death caused shock in the business circles. Kommersant daily writes that Kondrachuk's collegues find it hard to believe in the suicide and think that the businessman fell victim to careless use of weapons. "Volodya (Kondrachuk) was a very strong man capable of solving any problems. What happened to him is an absurd accident," Trans Nafta CEO told the newspaper. He said that Saturday was a work day and they talked about the past week and considered the work successful.

Vladimir Kondrachuk founded Trans Nafta in 1997 and owned 80% of the company. It worked with Gazprom, Shell, Chevron, and others. The company started branching into the gas market in 2001. Most recently the company specialized in development of gas deposits and owns licenses for several gas fields in Russia. In 2007 Kondrachuk's wealth was estimated at $1 billion.

Kondrachuk left the company in 2004 for a post of vice-governor of Novgorod region, but came back in 2007.

The investigation is looking into the version that the company's economic losses could lead to Kondrachuk's suicide.

A number of Russian businessmen committed suicide since the beginning of the economic crisis, most of them unable to make credit payments, like realtor Igor Vassiliev and Alexei Khromov, CEO of Genesis pharmaceutical company.