Vyacheslav Rovneiko, a former Russian spy and oil tycoon, has been found dead in his Moscow home at the age of 59 under mysterious circumstances. His death is considered “violent” by the Russian authorities. An investigation is opened. Some believe that his death could be linked to his business activities or his past as a spy.
Like Putin, Rovneiko worked for the KGB before changing course. He became a venture capitalist and chairman of the board of directors of Rostec, a Russian holding company specializing in defense and high-tech technologies.
Viatcheslav Rovneiko would have worked for the KGB… in Belgium, during the Cold War, alongside Sergei Naryshkin, currently head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. He was also close to billionaire Gennady Timchenko, considered one of Putin’s most loyal oligarchs. Furthermore, he had founded Urals Energy in 2000 together with his former business partner Leonid Dyachenko, whose wife at the time, Tatyana, was the daughter of Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
Rovneiko had very close ties with Belgium, a country he knew well from his activity as a spy. He was also the owner of the Belgian oil trading company Nafta. In 2006, he would have held a Belgian passport!
Rovneiko’s death adds to a long list of Kremlin figures who have died in mysterious circumstances in recent years. Since the start of 2022, dozens of Russian businessmen have been found dead in unexplained circumstances.