Russian Banker Dead Alongside Pregnant Wife and 13-Year-Old Daughter

The bodies of a top Russian banker and his family have been discovered at his apartment in Moscow, not long after the bank was slapped with Western sanctions.

Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found dead along with his wife Yelena, 47, and his 13-year-old daughter Maria at their home in the Russian capital.

Avayev was formerly the vice-president of Gazprombank, Russia’s third-largest bank and one of the main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas.

It has been hit with sanctions by a number of western countries in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including by the UK last month.

Russian state media agency TASS reported on Monday that the bodies of three people, including a girl, were discovered in an apartment building on Universitetsky Prospekt, a leafy street in southwest Moscow.

Police spokeswoman Yulia Ivanova told TASS that the bodies were discovered by Avayev’s eldest daughter Anastasia, 26, after they heard that neither the family driver nor nanny could get through on the phone.

She claimed that the door had been locked from the inside.

The daughter discovered the bodies inside their luxury apartment, along with a total of 13 different weapons.

A law enforcement source said that a gun was found in Avayev’s hand and that they believe it was a case of murder-suicide.

Officers have alleged that Avayev’s wife and daughter were shot before he was and that the gun was found in his hand.

It hasn’t been reported how many shots were fired or the exact circumstances behind their deaths.

Unconfirmed rumours have swirled online that the family may have been experiencing a financial crisis.

Another source alleges Azayev murdered his family after discovering his wife was five months pregnant with someone else’s child, although this hasn’t been proven.

A neighbour of the family, Kristina, said: “I heard three shots and shouting. A woman was screaming. 

“Then two more shots were fired. No one else was screaming. I looked out the window – I thought it was fireworks.

“It turned out they weren’t, my mother told me it was definitely gunshots.”

Avayev had reportedly worked for Gazprombank for many years before deciding to leave suddenly for unknown reasons recently.

Kremlin analyst Olga Lautman said that Avayev earlier worked in Putin‘s presidential administration, as well as in the parliament, or Duma.

He was also a member of the board of trustees of the Central Sports Club of Russia’s financial and economic bodies.

Outside of his work, he was also the general director of the RTK company, a scientific research and development firm, and founder of LLC Carbonics, a construction company.

It isn’t known how long he and his wife had been together, but they are believed to have had two children.

“According to the preliminary version, Avayev killed his wife and daughter and committed suicide,” the law agency source said, adding that a domestic conflict could be behind the killing.

Gazprombank is a privately-held Russian bank that ranks third in terms of assets in the country.

It was created to serve the financial needs of Gazprom, the natural gas giant which is one of the largest exporters in the world.

After Russia’s economy collapsed in 1998 during the dying days of Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, Gazprombank took over most gas export contracts with foreign countries.

The bank has done business with close associates of President Vladimir Putin in the past, and has been involved in money-laundering scandals in Europe.

Since November 2014, the bank’s largest shareholder has been Gozfond, which is owned by Putin ally Yuri Shamalov.

Bank chairman Alexei Miller has also been pictured with Putin.

The bank’s primary business sectors are corporate banking, retail banking, investment banking, and depository services.

However, while Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank has been completely cut off from accessing the dollar, and US companies have been forbidden from doing business with the second biggest, VTB, Gazprombank has escaped the worst sanctions.

The EU said it needs to keep trading with Gazprombank because of continuing payments on imported gas.

Last year, the EU imported 45 per cent of its natural gas from Russia, equivalent to around $70 billion.

For that reason, Gazprombank was not banned on Swift, the financial-messaging software linking the world’s banks, which seven other Russian banks were cut off from.