Anatoly Karpov, 71, who was a chess grandmaster in the 1970s before turning to politics, is believed to have been injured in Moscow sometime on Saturday night – amid claims he “suffered a fall”. He is now in a neurological ward at the prestigious Sklifosovsky Institute and has been placed in a medically induced coma, with allies describing his condition as “serious”. Karpov is known as a Putin super-loyalist but has called for an end to the war in Ukraine “so that peaceful people stop dying”. He is just the latest member of the Russian elite to end up dead or seriously injured since the invasion began. Anatoly Karpov, 71, a former Russian chess grandmaster turned politician, is in a coma in hospital with “serious” head injuries after an incident at the weekend. Karpov, known as a Putin loyalist but who had voiced his opposition to the Ukraine war, was alternately reported to have been attacked, suffered a domestic incident or fallen Mystery surrounds exactly when and how Karpov was injured. Andrei Kovalev, head of the All-Russian Movement of Entrepreneurs, claimed he was attacked and hit on the head as he left the State Duma building in Moscow. Kovalev said the politician suffered a fractured neck and head when he was hit on the head by unknown assailants and was found unconscious. However, Kirill Zangalis, a spokesman for the Russian Chess Federation, said reports of a beating were “fake news”. Karpov’s daughter Sofia also denied these claims. Other reports say he suffered a “domestic” incident or had an “accidental fall.” One claimed he was drunk at the time. The attack is believed to have taken place late Saturday or early Sunday, although reports only began to emerge yesterday. While Karpov is seen as extremely loyal and a supporter of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, he has also publicly called for an end to the war. He told a television channel in Kazakhstan: “I wish [the war] it would end sooner, so that peaceful people would stop dying.’ He added: “In the end ordinary people are the victims. Ordinary people fight, politicians and generals decide, and ordinary people fight, civilians die. “I’m not even talking about soldiers and officers. No, I couldn’t imagine at all that Russians and Ukrainians would go to war. I have many friends in Ukraine.’ Russian lawmaker Nikolai Petrounin (pictured) has become the latest senior energy official to die since Vladimir Putin launched his brutal war in Ukraine Pavel Pchelnikov, 52, a public railway executive, was found dead at his home in Moscow in what has been reported as a “suicide”. Ivan Pechorin (circled) was CEO of Putin’s Far East and Arctic Development Company. The 39-year-old was responsible for developing Russia’s Arctic resources and the aviation industry in eastern Russia Igor Nosov, CEO of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, also died this year in his early 40s, reportedly of a “stroke”. His heartfelt plea to “end the war” came in April in an interview with Armanzhan Baytasov, a businessman who publishes Forbes Kazakhstan. Karpov is just the latest in a long line of Russian elites who have met with misfortune following Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. While Putin has cracked down on opposition to the war, it is unclear whether all the attacks are directly related to it. Some have speculated that elites in Russia’s notoriously gangster business world are taking revenge on each other while Putin is distracted by the war. The latest to die was Nikolai Petrounin, 47, nicknamed ‘Gas wonderkid’, who reportedly died of complications from Covid in mid-October after being in a coma for a month. His businesses built gas pipelines for major Russian energy operators and he had ties to the Kremlin’s gas behemoth Gazprom – now starving the West of Russian supplies because of the war – and Rosneft. Pavel Pchelnikov, 52, a public relations manager for Russian Railways, was found shot dead at his home in the leafy Kolomenskaya Embankment neighborhood on September 28. In July, Yuri Voronov, 61, head of a transport and logistics company for a company linked to Gazprom, was found dead in his swimming pool, with a top friend who is a leading criminologist warning of foul play. Two more deaths of Gazprom-linked executives were reported at elite homes near St Petersburg, amid suspicions that the apparent suicides may have been murders. Alexander Tyulakov, 61, a senior Gazprom finance and security official at the level of deputy general manager, was discovered by his lover the day after the war in Ukraine began in February. His neck was in a noose at his £500,000 home. Ravil Maghanov, chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil, died after falling from a window at Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital (pictured with Vladimir Putin in 2019) Yuri Voronov, 61, was found dead in August Two more deaths of Gazprom-linked executives were reported at elite homes near St. Petersburg, fueling suspicions that the deaths may have been murders Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, former top executive of energy giant Lukoil, died in May However, reports say he was badly beaten shortly before he “took his own life”, leading to speculation that he was under intense pressure. In the same elite housing development in the Leningrad region three weeks earlier, Leonid Shulman, 60, head of transport at Gazprom Invest, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor. Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, also linked to Kremlin-friendly energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May after “taking advice from shamans”. One theory is that Subbotin – who also owned a shipping company – was poisoned by toad venom causing a heart attack. In April, wealthy Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Kremlin official, appeared to have killed himself after killing his wife Yelena, 47, and daughter, 13. He had high-level ties with leading Russian financial institution Gazprombank. Friends disputed reports he was jealous after his wife admitted she was pregnant by their driver. There are allegations that he had access to the financial secrets of the Kremlin elite. Former Kremlin official and Gazprombank vice chairman Vladislav Avayev, 51, appeared to have taken his own life after killing his wife and one of his daughters in April. Russian gas tycoon Sergey Protosenya (pictured), his wife Natalya, 53, and their teenage daughter Maria were found dead at their Spanish mansion in Lloret de Mar on April 19. Ukrainian-born multi-millionaire Yevgeny Palant, 47, and his wife Olga Palant, 50, were found stabbed to death in their family home in the Moscow region last week. Several days later, multi-millionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in Spain after he was seen killing his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter, Maria, with an axe. He was a former vice president of Novatek, a company also closely linked to the Kremlin. There have also been questions about the death of Putin’s man to develop Russia’s vast Arctic resources, who was “overboarded” to his death by a boat sailing off the country’s Pacific coast. Ivan Pechorin, 39, had recently attended a major conference organized by the warmongering Kremlin in Vladivostok. The top was the CEO of Putin’s Far East and Arctic Development Company. And in another case, a mobile phone multi-millionaire and his wife were found stabbed to death, with the official version of events raising questions. Naked Yevgeny Palant, 47, and his Ukrainian-born wife Olga, 50, were found with multiple stab wounds by their daughter Polina, 20. Immediate media reports claimed the woman killed herself in rage after Paland said he was leaving her. However, this was strongly disputed by the couple’s best friend.
