WEBVTT - An Oil Baron’s Frog Venom Heart Attack 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.000 Something strange is going on. 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.960 Who is killing Russian billionaires? Another Russian oligarch has been 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:10.200 found dead. Reports suggests that he hanged himself, fell. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.560 Out of a window, slashed his wrists, was poisoned, murdered 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:17.599 his whole family. Last year, more than a dozen Russian 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.520 oligarchs died in the space of nine months. Many of 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.880 the deaths are suspicious with links to the Kremlin. This 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:31.320 is sad Oligach, an investigation into these recently dead Russian billionaires. 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:36.080 It's created by me, Jake Hanrahan and my colleague Sergey Slipchenkok. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.560 Sad Oligarch is a H eleven production for Kulso Media 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:51.960 and iHeartRadio. We all know about the vague stereotype that 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:56.680 Russians love to drink a lot. Russians have long been 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:01.760 depicted in Western entertainment as crazy, drunk caricatures who can 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.840 drink liters of vodka without issue. Now, Russia, of course, 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.839 does have a big drinking culture, as does many other countries, 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.679 my own included. Trust me, it's a shallow reflection of 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.199 a country's fabric to simply rely on these played out stereotypes. 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.880 That said, this oligarch death is one that sounds like 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.320 a plot to an exploitative Hollywood film. There's heavy drinking, 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.640 shamanic rituals, and a dead Russian billionaire with links to 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.520 one of the largest oil and gas companies in Russia. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.720 That company, Luke Oil, is very friendly with the Kremlin. 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:46.920 This is the strange death of Alexander Sabochin. On twenty two, 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.960 forty three year old Alexander Sabochin woke up with a 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:56.760 particularly bad hangover. You probably know the kind mouth like 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:00.559 a desert eye, is sensitive head splitting into the lot. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.560 So Bochin had been up the night before drinking heavily. 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.680 Sources suggest that this had been one night of many. 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.520 Subotchin had been on a drinking spree, down in large 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.840 amounts of alcohol for many days in a row. Heavy 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.000 drinking had become a problem for him. It wasn't just 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.800 a celebration, a night out, or a one off. With 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.280 a head full of drink and stuff to do to, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:29.000 Botching sought out an unconventional hangover cure. Your ravage drinker 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.640 might double up on a barako or hit the sauna, 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.320 but not so Botching. He was extremely wealthy, so he 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:40.200 paid to see a shaman. As unusual as that might 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.000 sound to some, the belief in shamanism is something not 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:49.280 entirely unheard of in Russia, especially not amongst the country's elite. 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:55.000 Sergery explains, in Russia, the occult kind of came up 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.480 as an answer to kind of all the cases been 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.280 going on. There has been a lot of m morel 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.919 in Russia. Basically the past one hundred years had three 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:08.120 major changes from Imperial Russia to communism and then now 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.000 to whatever this is. People turn towards this. It's like 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.640 superstition and things like that. And then like Shawmanism specifically 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.520 came from kind of the intermingling of cultures. You know, 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.960 there's a lot of tribes in eastern eastern northern Russia 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.560 where this is just their way of life for a 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.680 long long time, and it kind of got, i guess, 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:33.600 adopted by Western Russians into something more like mysticism, you know, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.840 looking for an answer, looking for alternative ways, they seek healing, 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:39.920 They kind of seek an answer of like a more 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.880 spiritual answer. And basically the Russian lead they see this 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.200 as like covering all bases, and those who can afford it, 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:51.360 they get private sessions, they get private sciances. This is 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.600 not exactly new. If you look at the last couple 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.920 of years of Imperial Russia, I think most people know 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.240 some aspect of the whole respute and story where the 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:06.280 tzar's wife was seeking basically any cure for their son 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.360 who I forget the name of the disease, but basically 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.000 if he bled or something, he couldn't stop, like he 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.800 would bleed out to death. Seemingly, the only answer they 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.920 could find was whatever Resputin did. As far as people 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.400 could tell, he was some kind of mystic almost t 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.040 wizard person, right, and they really believe that, like they 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.039 really got into that, and that kind of stuck around. 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:32.080 When there's so much like turmoil, so much shit going on, 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.120 you just kind of turn to other explanations, you know, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.800 the only thing that you kind of think can help 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.679 or save you. You can't trust the government, you can't 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:45.640 really trust the like regular institutions. You turn to whatever 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.839 it might be that give you that hope or that 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.920 answer to your questions. But you see this like certain levels. 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:59.000 You know, you see celebrities, you see oligarchs and other 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.520 kind of like up there people who they definitely use 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.040 the services, they're friends with them. You know, they literally 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:11.520 have like celebrity shamans or celebrity mystics, you know, one 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.479 of the like Primetime Reality TV is a battle of 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:21.360 the psychics, and it's essentially like, I don't know, it's 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.760 like a it's kind of hard to explain what I'm 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.000 seeing it. It's basically like who's the best psychic? And 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.480 they have different challenges. They try to figure out murder mysteries. 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:34.480 They try to well, I mean according to them, they talk, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.920 they do sol murder mysteries, they speak with the dead 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.640 and such, and somehow they compete for whoever is the best. 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.760 It's popular stuff like people watch this. I'm sure a 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:46.680 lot of people are skeptical or kind of see it 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.839 as like a fun, kind of dumb show too much, 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.400 But I think a lot of people do kind of 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:54.839 if they don't believe it, they're kind of on the 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:59.520 side where like you know what, who knows maybe enough 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.360 to the point where it is relevant in society. People 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.880 do get readings. People go like regular people go for 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:09.920 readings and stuff, right, and then if you're can to 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.320 afford it, you can have a celebrity shaman come and 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.560 give you some kind of seance to get your hangar overcured, 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.120 and I just guess this time it kind of show 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:26.640 that these shamans might not exactly be you know, experts, 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.080 but maybe grifters who don't exactly know what they're doing 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:31.239 and get you killed. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.320 A revival of shamanism in Russia is something that became 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:40.400 particularly popular in Siberia, the large desolate region in the 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:45.640 country's east. Journalist Jessin Mater wrote about this in twenty fifteen. 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.479 He said, quote, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Herald 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:54.960 did a religious revival throughout Russia. Perhaps unexpectedly, shamanism has 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:59.600 achieved newfound popularity, not just in its traditional homeland, but 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.200 also across Russia and beyond. Although the Tenjair belief a 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:08.440 type of shamanism is originally a practice of the ethnic 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:13.160 Burriats who have historically inhabited Siberia, many of the visitors 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.680 to the temple and some of its shamans are ethnic 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:22.000 Russians end quote. This journalist was actually present at one 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:27.200 of the more traditional shamanic rituals. He describes two shamans 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.000 stood on one side of the room, wearing bright blue 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.880 robes with hats that cover their eyes. Some shamans believe 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.320 that spirits are afraid to look into the eyes of 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:40.560 a human being. The shamans beat drums and chant frantically 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.320 on the other side of the room. Ritual participants are 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.520 guided on what movements to make and what phrases to 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.520 say to follow the rules of the ritual. In this 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.520 type of shamanism, no type of elixir or medicine is 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:59.080 consumed or administered. That's not always the case, stock The 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.280 head of the s Yamen Center in urkust Vitally Balteyev, 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.440 has spoken about a rise in Russia of what he 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:12.880 calls neo shamanism. Neo shamanism is basically an amalgamation of 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:18.800 various different ancient shamanic practices repurposed for people interested in 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:24.280 New Age type religions. These ones often involve various mixtures 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.880 and intoxicants that have to be consumed by the person 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.720 having the ritual performed on them. This is the kind 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.280 of ritual Alexander Subotchin was involved in before he died 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.680 in May twenty twenty two. Subochin sought out the shamanic 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:03.760 services of Tino Korda and Magua Floes, also known by 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:08.880 their real names Christina Tea Krub and Alexi Pinduran respectively. 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:14.200 These two are self proclaimed shamans in Russia. They're most 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:19.240 definitely more involved in the new age bracket of this practice. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.200 Before this incident where Sebochin died, the two shamans had 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:27.800 a pretty sleek media presence online. There are several professional 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.320 photos of the pair, both white in their shaman get up. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.440 One image shows Christina ta Krub dressed in a long 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.679 patterned robe with a Native American style headdress made of 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:44.120 white feathers. Next to her stands Alexi Penduran, dressed in 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.920 a diamond patterned robe with a turquoise and red fez 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.600 shaped hat. A black feather is placed into the top 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.680 of the hat, and Penduran is hitting a large raw 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.680 hired drum with a wooden club. Honestly, it looks like 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.760 they're playing dresser. It doesn't help that Penduring can be 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:07.440 seen wearing a black hoodie under his shamanic rogue. Either way, 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.720 the pair took shamanism very seriously on the outside, and 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.400 they made money out of it. They put in a 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:18.720 lot of effort to form their shamanic brand. For example, 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:24.160 Penduran's now defunct YouTube channel under his pseudonym Magua Flores 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.800 has a well produced ten minute long video where he 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.640 performs a ritual with a more traditional shaman. It has 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.480 over ten thousand the views. The only other public release 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:40.080 on the channel is a very weird cringe music video, 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:44.880 which admittedly shows the popularity of the couple. Many different 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.520 scenes play out with dozens and dozens of people, all 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:53.000 of them Western in appearance, attending tea Grub and Penduran's 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:58.320 shamanic rituals. On there now abandoned Instagram account, they have 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.960 a photo in a recording studio with Nikita Jigorda. He 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.640 is also in the music video Jigorda sixty two is 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:12.600 a Ukrainian born actor and singer. He stays in Russia, 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:17.400 where he's famous. Jagorda is pro Putin and has publicly 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:25.240 celebrated the Russian invasion of Ukraine with particularly bare faced bloodluss. 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.720 There are even videos on his Instagram account where he's 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:35.199 in Zaparija in Ukraine with Russian forces. He's cheering them 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:39.240 on to his three hundred and forty thousand followers. He's 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.839 dressed in full military fatigues and he's throwing his hands 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.760 up in the air with joy as mortars are fired 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.520 off with the aim of striking Ukrainian forces who are 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:54.160 defending their lands. In the caption, he condemns Ukraine and 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.160 he says that he's been performing occult rituals on the 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:02.880 front line to help the occupying Russian forces. Weird. Needless 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:07.240 to say, the self proclaimed shaman's tea grub and pinduring 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.400 have been operating in some strange circles in Russia for 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.000 years now. They've also been offering their services to anyone 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:19.319 who can afford it. In twenty twenty two, Alexander Sebotchin 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.320 took part in these services in the midst of a 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.920 one on one ceremony in the basement of the shaman's home, 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:31.079 presumably with incense in the air, several burning candles and 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.319 abided hat placed on his head, he had toad venoma 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.800 put into his bloodstream via an incision made into his skin. 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:45.079 This was administered by tea grub and pinduring. Alexander Subotchin 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:49.319 then had a heart attack. The shamans tried to treat 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:55.800 him with valerian a herb Tabatchin soon died of cardiac arrest. 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.520 Whilst the full autopsy isn't public, it's presumed that the 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:05.320 toad venom is what caused the heart attack. According to 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:11.679 the National Capital Poison Center and organization dedicated to preventing poisonings, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.840 some of the toxins in toad venom, such as digoxin, tryptomines, 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:23.360 and tetro detoxin, can cause irregular heart rhythms, dizziness, paralysis, 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:28.199 and heart attack. This is what the two shamans injected 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:32.040 into the skin of Alexander Subotchin to try and treat 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.760 his alcohol problems after he'd been on a long bender 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:42.880 of drinking alcohol. I spoke to scientists and researcher Jovanna 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.240 Maxich about the kind of shamanism Tea Group and Penduring 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.520 were involved in. She has knowledge on these kinds of 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:55.359 practices with an anthropological background in similar communities. 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.840 From what I gathered, their type of shamanism seems to 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:03.679 be kind of a syncretic mix of already existing traditions. 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.199 But weirdly, there were not any kind of indigenous or 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:11.200 Slavic practices that you would find in Russia today. There 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:16.679 were actually a mixture of Afro Caribbean and South American practices. So, 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:22.920 for example, the specific toad venom ritual comes from the Amazon. 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.720 So these people have seemed to really use these mostly 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:33.480 South American traditions in their shamanic practices. Shaman Magua Flores 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.200 his real name being alexey Pin Durin and his wife 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:41.440 Tina Cordova or Christina Taikrib. It seems like these people 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.960 have been running the kind of open house specifically for rich, 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.840 wealthy Moscow vites to come and sort of indulge in 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:55.040 these black magic rituals and drugs. According to a famous 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.680 makeup artist who actually got involved in a very negative 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.080 way with the shamanic cup, well, she said that in 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.320 their house they have a basement where they practice black 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:10.280 magic rituals and here they keep animal blood, live animals 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.200 that they kill and then use for different sorts of rituals, 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:19.000 but also enough psychotropic substances and drugs to send somebody 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.320 to prison for twenty years. 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.040 Remember at the start when I said this case sounds 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.400 like a bad Hollywood movie, Well, this is where the 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.760 black magic comes in. Whilst it might sound over the 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.200 top or how to believe, for some occultism has been 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.640 making a steady revival all across the world for the 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:42.760 last decade. Even the practice of so called black magic, 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.880 often linked to left hand path occultism. In fact, in 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.120 Russia in twenty twenty one, a couple who believed heavily 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.040 in the occult were arrested and charged for committing several 0:15:54.120 --> 0:16:00.920 human sacrifices. Real ones Olga Bolshakhova and Andre true Jabenko 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.840 stabbed several people to death in the forest as part 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:09.360 of their twisted beliefs. The murders occurred in twenty sixteen, 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.520 but were kept hidden for five years. It's believed many 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.600 other people were involved in the couple's occult group, currently 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:22.560 there awaiting trial. So whilst this story about the neo 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:26.760 shaman's Taikarub and Penduring having a basement for black magic 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:33.000 might sound absolutely mental, it's actually quite plausible. Remember the 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.160 two were pictured with that actor Nikita Jagorda, who openly 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:42.160 talks about performing occult rituals. He also has a black 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:46.760 son tattoo on his right elbow. The black son symbolizes 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:52.400 esoteric fascism and dark occultism. Anyway, let's hear what else 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.080 Yovanna Maxich had to say. 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.760 So this seems to be kind of like more running institutions, 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.400 so to say, for the elites coming there to treat 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:07.520 their ailments. But very interestingly, this case with the makeup 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:12.399 artist is actually really strange because it seems like this 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.639 shamanic couple organizes some kind of retreat where they invite 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.520 people to come, and this retreat kind of went badly 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.760 for this person. So essentially what happened is this makeup 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.040 artist was flown over to Mexico to go on a 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:32.679 retreat with this weird couple and the idea is that 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:38.640 they would go there and somehow help with spiritual healing, ailments, 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.080 you name it. And what happened, according to her report, 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:46.199 is that already in the first couple of days, the 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.439 couple started getting drunk on tequila and brought all of 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.000 these like real shamans from Peru and Mexico and started 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:59.040 being kind of aggressive and violent towards this makeup artist. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.320 One of the main reasons why they wanted to go 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:06.480 there is so that they could do this ritual that 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.399 actually involves toad venom. So that's something that you know, 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.800 was the acclaimed cause of the death of Alexander Subuchin. 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:19.399 But this ritual called cambo is actually comprised of making 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.679 incisions or burns on a person in and then adding 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.760 this toad venom, which kind of like creates convulsions, vomiting, 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.159 and after that you feel kind of like spiritual enlightenment 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:34.240 or healing if you survive. If you survive, yeah, because 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.359 people have died actually by you know, the wrong use 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.960 or just irresponsible use of this cumbo ritual. But what 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.600 happened to this person is she noticed that, Okay, things 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.520 are dodgy, this is weird. They're becoming really aggressive and drunk. 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.600 So she called her husband and she tried to leave 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.760 the retreat, but when she tried to do that, the 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.840 couple allegedly beat her up, and then when she wanted 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:02.840 to go to the police and report what happened, the 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:07.040 couple basically like blackmailed her and claimed that they're going 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.480 to kill her with different drugs and chemicals, and also 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:13.639 that they have many enemies that they know how to 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.959 eliminate very easily. So nothing really happened in this case, 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.320 but it's out there and it's been documented. 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.000 They're probably making quite a bit of money, right, I mean, 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:30.000 Subbortching himself was an out and out billionaire, an oil barren. Essentially, 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.439 they must be making quite a lot of money to 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:33.440 be in these circles. 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.679 Yeah, totally. I mean, I'm certain, and also from the 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.520 reports that exist, it sounds like a lot of different 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.800 very vip and wealthy people were mingling in this house 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.960 and coming in buying, so it must be making bang right. 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.440 So on one hand, I'm thinking, well, this might actually 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.280 just be a coincidence. It's a case of misadventure. For 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:01.359 some reason, this Russian billionaire went to this weird dodgy ritual. Yes, 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.080 his company has ties to the Kremlin, but maybe this 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.159 one was a coincidence. Why would they kill him with 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:11.560 frog venom? But there is a history right in Russia 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:17.120 of people being knocked off, assassinated with strange poison, strange concoctions. 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:22.199 Yeah. Absolutely, This is actually a famous phenomenon called the 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:27.240 Liternoe or like literno assassinations. So as we know, in 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.600 the Putin era we've seen a lot of these strange 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:35.480 poisonings and murders of different political opponents and writers. But 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.679 in Stalinist Russia, these types of killings were specifically framed 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:44.840 as Liternoi killings, and they were secret, disguised liquidations that 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:49.280 were often staged to be natural deaths or suicides. So 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:54.360 the NTVD, which was the Soviet Union's Interior Ministry. They're 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:58.760 the factor Walter Kivitski who killed many for Stalin and 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.639 then was himself in a fake suicide. He said that 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:07.080 any fool could murder someone, but it takes a true 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.399 artist to stage a natural death from disease or suicide. 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.639 Yeah, I don't think it's a stretch, particularly if we 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:20.639 look at, for example, Alexander Livignenko was poisoned for essentially 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.199 wearing that book blowing up Russia, various people infected with 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.199 polonium put into their tea. I don't think it's a 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.600 stretch personally to think. Yeah, perhaps Putin has tried to 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:31.200 carry that. 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:35.000 On, Yeah, totally. But really for this shaman case, I'm 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:39.280 really not sure what to think. There's so many weird coincidences, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:44.680 but it does look pretty possible as well, because there's 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.800 already documented cases of people dying specifically from this. But 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.800 then the question is did someone manipulate the ritual? Did 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:56.080 someone know exactly what kind of venom to use? Because 0:21:56.080 --> 0:22:00.040 if you use the vendom of a different frog, you 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:03.280 can kill people much easily. So if you just tweak 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:07.040 certain elements in there, or just you know, slide another 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.200 drug to this, person it's easy to kill, But then 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:12.080 why would they kill him? That's the question. 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:17.000 That is the question. If Alexander Subochin was killed and 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.880 this wasn't just some weird shamanic accident, who killed him 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:44.439 and why is there an obvious motive. For most of 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:47.879 his life, Alexander Sebochin managed to keep his name out 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.840 of the media. He enjoyed his privacy. Not much is 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.800 known about his early career, but after completing his PhD 0:22:56.000 --> 0:23:00.119 in two thousand and nine, Subochin joined multinational energy u 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:04.879 corporation Louke Oil. His brother also worked there. By the 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:08.640 time of Alexander Sebotchin's death in twenty twenty two, he 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:11.840 was a member of the board. That's a prestigious position 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:16.440 to have considering how much money the company makes. Luke Oil, 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.160 which is headquartered in Moscow, produces more than two percent 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.199 of all the world's oil and around one percent of 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:28.080 proved hydrocarbon reserves. They refine more than a million barrels 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:31.920 of oil a day and employ over one hundred thousand people. 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:36.040 This is a massive operation that's been going since nineteen 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:41.160 ninety one. A Russian corporation with this much clout naturally 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:45.359 has links to the Russian government. One of the more 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:52.280 direct links, perhaps is Russian oligarch vejet Alekparov. Elekporov, who's 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:56.400 of Aziri descent, was the president of Luke Oil from 0:23:56.480 --> 0:24:00.879 nineteen ninety three to twenty twenty two. He's worth an 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:05.639 estimated nineteen billion US dollars and is believed to be 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:10.080 the fifth richest man in Russia. Now. As I mentioned 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:14.439 in episode one, some of the rich dead Russian businessmen 0:24:14.520 --> 0:24:20.280 in this series are not necessarily oligach oligaks. Elektorov, however, 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:24.840 is one hundred percent an oligach oligach. He's in the 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:28.320 top one hundred of the richest people on Earth and 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:31.600 had a twenty eight point three percent stake of Lukoyl 0:24:32.080 --> 0:24:35.639 as of twenty twenty two. What's more, his friends with 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:40.240 Putin and was sanctioned by Britain when Russia invaded Ukraine 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:44.480 in February last year. In a statement from the British 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:49.680 government's official sanctions list, they said, quote through his directorship 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:54.480 of Lukoyl, Elekorov continues to obtain a benefit from and 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:58.760 or continues to support the government of Russia by working 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:03.600 as a director, trustee or equivalent of entities carrying on 0:25:03.880 --> 0:25:08.840 business in sectors of strategic significance to the Government of Russia, 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:15.560 namely the Russian energy sector. Endsco Archived copies of Lukoyl's 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:19.560 tax payments to the Kremlin seen by journalist Rob Davies 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:24.040 show that the company contributed more than six billion dollars 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:28.480 to the Kremlin in twenty twenty alone. Tax documents after 0:25:28.560 --> 0:25:33.480 that are not available. In April twenty twenty two, Alekporov 0:25:33.560 --> 0:25:36.440 stepped down as the president of Loakoil due to the 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:42.640 sanctions issues. Before this, there had already been trouble after 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:47.919 Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lakoyl's London listed shares lost roughly 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:51.960 ninety nine percent of their value. That's a hell of 0:25:52.000 --> 0:25:56.280 a lot of money. War at that time was definitely 0:25:56.480 --> 0:26:01.080 not good for business for Lakoil, so much so that 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:05.320 they broke ranks with Putin after more than twenty years. 0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:11.159 Board of directors of Lukoil, which Alexander Subotchin was part of, 0:26:11.720 --> 0:26:15.520 released a public statement on March third, twenty twenty two, 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:21.800 condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine just one week after it started. 0:26:22.400 --> 0:26:25.639 For Putin, that must have been a slap in the face. 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:29.359 Subochin was still alive at this time and would have 0:26:29.400 --> 0:26:33.919 been involved in the statement. The board said the following quote. 0:26:34.119 --> 0:26:38.240 The Board of Directors of Lukoil expresses its deepest concerns 0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:42.120 about the tragic events in Ukraine, calling for the soonest 0:26:42.200 --> 0:26:46.680 termination of the armed conflict. We express our sincere empathy 0:26:46.800 --> 0:26:51.000 for all victims who are affected by this tragedy. We 0:26:51.040 --> 0:26:55.760 strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems 0:26:55.960 --> 0:27:00.639 through serious negotiations and diplomacy. The company may makes every 0:27:00.680 --> 0:27:05.440 effort to continue its operations in all countries and regions 0:27:05.480 --> 0:27:09.560 where it is present, Committed to its primary mission of 0:27:09.720 --> 0:27:14.160 a reliable supplier of energy to consumers around the world. 0:27:14.800 --> 0:27:19.760 In its activities, Lukoil aspires to contribute to peace, international 0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:26.720 relations and humanitarian ties. End quote. Now, Honestly, I doubt 0:27:26.760 --> 0:27:31.040 the Board of Directors of Lucoyl care at all about Ukraine, really, 0:27:31.640 --> 0:27:35.200 but they clearly do care about the company's profit margins. 0:27:36.000 --> 0:27:39.000 The war began to seriously disrupt that at the time 0:27:39.160 --> 0:27:43.720 of their statement. However, more than a year after the invasion, 0:27:44.080 --> 0:27:49.600 Lucoil has managed to weather the storm. As reported by 0:27:49.760 --> 0:27:54.600 journalist Victor Jack, Lucoil is still actually operating hundreds of 0:27:54.640 --> 0:27:59.400 gas stations and oil refineries in the EU. This made 0:27:59.440 --> 0:28:03.280 them a net profit of eight billion dollars within the 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:07.560 first nine months of twenty twenty two, when Russia was, 0:28:07.600 --> 0:28:12.040 of course actively trying to destroy Ukraine. That's more than 0:28:12.119 --> 0:28:15.160 double the amount from the same time period in twenty 0:28:15.240 --> 0:28:19.760 twenty one. So Lukoil actually made more money as the 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:25.040 war went on, partially facilitated by their work in the EU. 0:28:25.800 --> 0:28:29.440 This money was of course shared with the Kremlin via taxes, 0:28:29.960 --> 0:28:33.640 and no doubt helped them to manufacture and purchase new 0:28:33.640 --> 0:28:39.120