A Russian oil executive on Friday fell to his death from a window at his home in western Moscow in what has been ruled a suicide, the latest in a number of high-profile Russians who have died under mysterious circumstances, especially after falling out of windows.

Andrei Badalov, 62, vice president of the state-owned oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, was found dead Friday morning on the ground below the apartment block where he lived, European media outlets reported.

"Badalov's body was discovered at the bottom of a residential building on Rublyovskoye highway," a law enforcement source told the Russian-owned Tass news agency. "The preliminary cause of death is suicide."

Tass added that law enforcement officials said Badalov left a "farewell note."

Badalov had overseen Transneft's digital transformation since his appointment as vice president in July 2021, the independent Moscow Times reported.

His death is the latest in a string of unexplained deaths among Russian businessmen, state officials and industry leaders since the country invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Although many of the cases have officially been labeled as suicides, others involve alleged murder-suicides, mysterious accidents, or unexplained falls, The Kyiv Independent reported.

In April 2022, Vladislav Avayev, vice president of Gazprombank, one of Russia's largest banks, was found dead in Moscow alongside his wife and daughter. Preliminary tests found Avayev shot them before turning the gun on himself.

Just days later, former Novatek gas producer executive Sergei Protosenya, his wife, and daughter were discovered dead at a villa in Spain. Spanish media reported that Protosenya killed his family and then hanged himself, though the case remains unresolved.

Ivan Stupak, a Ukrainian military analyst and former officer in Ukraine's SBU security service, told the Independent it's likely that Russia's security services are behind many of the deaths. He suggested that not all of the deaths are politically motivated — some might stem from internal business rivalries.

"Apart from business disputes, it could also be a case of unpaid debts, borrowed money, or even embezzlement," he said.

Among the most striking patterns is the recurrence of deaths that resulted from falling from a window. At least seven such incidents have been reported since 2022, according to the Independent.

In September 2022, Ravil Maganov, chair of Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil firm, died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow. Although Lukoil's official obituary cited a "serious illness," state media later reported he died by suicide.

That same year, United Russia lawmaker Pavel Antonov was found dead at a hotel in India, lying in a pool of blood beneath his window. Indian police said Antonov fell from the third floor, and local media reported that he had been "depressed" over the recent death of a friend, who died in the same hotel days earlier.

Most recently, on Feb. 6, Russian singer-songwriter Vadim Stroykin died during a raid by Russian security forces. He fell from a 10th-floor window of his apartment in St. Petersburg while officers were conducting a search linked to his alleged donation to Ukraine's armed forces

Russian media called the death a suicide. Stroykin had condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and criticized President Vladimir Putin directly.

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