Daughter of Putin ally is found dead in her Moscow apartment after ‘feeling unwell’

The glamorous daughter of a Putin ally has been found dead in her Moscow apartment after ‘feeling unwell’.

Natalia Bochkareva, 44, the daughter of former Putin ally Vasily Bochkarev, was found dead in her condo in Moscow’s Presnensky District on July 11.

Her apartment’s concierge called the police to report that she had stopped answering the door.

But when police went to the property and forced open the front door, they discovered her corpse.

It comes as the latest in a long line of public figures to suddenly fall ill and die in Russia.

Natalia Bochkareva (pictured), 44, the daughter of former Putin ally Vasily Bochkarev, was found dead in her condo in Moscow’s Presnensky District on July 11

Her apartment’s concierge called the police to report that she had stopped answering the door

But when police went to the property and forced open the front door, they discovered her corpse

There were no signs of a violent death, according to preliminary reports. She was the daughter of the late Mr Bochkarev, who governed Penza oblast from 1998 to 2015.

The 67-year-old, who belonged to Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, passed away from lung cancer a year after leaving office.

Ms Bochkareva managed the family lumber-processing and bakery businesses after her father’s passing.

But two years ago, she made headlines after falling victim to a scam when she sent a self-styled fortune teller RUB 16 million (GBP 136,000) to remove a curse.

However, after receiving the money, the fortune teller had broken off all contact with Natalia and had failed to fulfil her part of their agreement.

Russia has been hit by a number of ‘suspicious’ deaths – many linked to the energy sector – since tension escalated ahead of Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

There were no signs of a violent death, according to preliminary reports. Pictured: Natalya Bochkareva

Ms Bochkareva managed the family lumber-processing and bakery businesses after her father’s passing

In January, Magomed Abdulayev, 61, close to ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, was rammed by a car and died from severe injuries in Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea.

Ukraine immediately suggested this was the latest in a succession of Russian deaths in the past year dominated by Vladimir Putin’s war.

Pravda Geraschenko Telegram channel, run by Ukrainian official Anton Geraschenko posted: ‘Another mysterious death of a Russian official.

‘A car knocked down the ex-premier of Dagestan in Makhachkala, killing him.

‘The Russian media report that Magomed Abdulayev, 61, became the victim of a car collision when he crossed the road in the wrong place.’

And wealthy politician Nikolay Petrunin – aka Russia’s ‘Gas Wonderkid’ – was only 47 and had been in a coma for a month when he died in October last year.

Former PM, Magomed Abdulayev, 61, (pictured) was hospitalised but died from severe injuries in Makhachkala city on the Caspian Sea after having been hit by a car

Wealthy politician Nikolay Petrunin (pictured) – aka Russia’s ‘Gas Wonderkid’ – was only 47 and had been in a coma for a month when he died in October last year

The multimillionaire father of three, formerly a top gas industry executive, was reported to have died from complications linked to severe Covid.

He was deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s powerful energy committee, and a Putin loyalist and “political protege”.’

His businesses built gas pipelines for major Russian energy operators and he had links to Kremlin gas behemoth Gazprom – now starving the West of Russian supplies over the war – and Rosneft. He declared an annual salary of up to £1.75 million.

And on 1 September last year, oil tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, fell to his death from the sixth floor window of a Moscow hospital.

One report says he was ‘beaten’ before he was ‘thrown out of a window’, but this was not officially confirmed.

Two more deaths of Gazprom-linked executives were also reported last year amid suspicions their apparent suicides may have been murders.

On 1 September last year, oil tycoon Ravil Maganov (pictured), 67, fell to his death from the sixth floor window of a Moscow hospital

Alexander Tyulakov, 61, a senior Gazprom financial and security official at deputy general director level, was discovered dead in a noose in his £500,000 home a day after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

But he had been badly beaten shortly before he ‘took his own life’, leading to speculation he was under intense pressure, according to reports.

Leonid Shulman, 60, head of transport at Gazprom Invest, was also found dead with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor in Leningrad, Russia.

And billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, also linked to Kremlin-friendly energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager, was found dead in May after ‘taking advice from shamans’.