A former Kremlin official was found shot dead in his £2 million Moscow home alongside his pregnant wife and teenage daughter, police say.
The bodies of multimillionaire Vladislav Avayev, his wife Yelena and their 13-year-old daughter were found by his older daughter Anastasia in the 14th floor apartment complex.
He, as well as Yelena, 47, and Maria, 13, all had gunshot wounds.
Avayev previously worked as a high-flying executive at Gazprombank, a key part of Vladimir Putin’s gas-for-roubles scheme to hit back at Western sanctions.
A total of 13 weapons were found in the luxury flat, which had been locked from the inside, according to Anastasia.
Russian intelligence has started an investigation into the deaths with early reports suggesting it was a double murder and suicide.
A neighbour said severe sanctions imposed by the West may have had an impact on his businesses.
Witness 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."
Anastasia was called to the home by her father's driver who had grown concerned when no one answered the front door of the apartment home.
Another neighbour added: "Perhaps this was because of the sanctions - everyone is depressed, some are willing to go to extreme measures."
Others said they were concerned for their welfare following the shooting.
One neighbour called him a "nerd".
She said: "He was a smart man, almost the head of Gazprombank. I had seen him - he did not look like a maniac.
"He was a nerd, he had no reason to do that. He was rich, smart.
"There's no way a man like that could kill.
"Maybe Avayev and his family were killed.
"So what does that mean? A man with a gun broke into our house, and no one stopped him? How are we supposed to sleep now?"
The oligarch is the latest to have died since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February.
Police begun an investigation into the death of the father of three, who made his vast fortune through oil and gas from Ukraine, before setting up a property firm in the UK.
The Sun reported a family friend saying: “His state of mind might have been affected by the situation in the Ukraine,
“The timing of his death and the invasion of Ukraine was surely not coincidental.”
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