[imagesource: Probiznes]

Happily taking on the title of ‘The Sausage King’, and referring to one of your factories as a ‘Meat Empire’, is odd enough.

But, that’s what Russian oligarch Vladimir Marugov did, and he was proud of it.

Perhaps the innuendo is less apparent in Russian.

He had plans to expand operations into a more “traditional sausage empire” that would rival those of Germany and Austria, but his dreams were cut short early on Monday morning when he and his lover were attacked in an outdoor sauna hut, where he died.

She escaped out the window and called the police.

A little more background on Marugov before we go into the weird details of his death.

The Daily Beast reports that like many men in the Russian elite, he lived a double life.

…one with his good-looking wife, poetess Tatiana Marugova, and their son; and another with his business partner, 36-year-old Sabina Gaziyeva, a long-haired brunette (just like his wife).

When Marugov divorced Tatiana, he acted dignified at first: the oligarch left his wife and son, the future heir to wealth, a spacious apartment, a villa, and his beloved sausage factory. But later Marugov changed his mind and demanded all his property back.

His ex-wife published her feelings in a long poem, before appearing on TV to talk about it.

The biggest wound, Tatiana said, was that Marugov stopped communicating with their 23-year-old son, Alexander, after he had two children with his new partner. Marugov devoted all his life to the new family, she charged.

The ex-wife shared her pain millions of Russians in Malakhov’s show: “I received death threats from him, believe me, he is not going to stop until he squashes me,” she complained to the nation.

More tragedy struck when Alexander was killed in a motorbike accident last year.

So, he lived a pretty tumultuous life before he entered that sauna. He was allegedly attacked by two masked men who tied him and his partner up and demanded money before killing him with a crossbow.

Police found it next to the body when they arrived on the scene.

The attack happened at Marugov’s countryside estate, about 40km outside the capital, Moscow.

After killing him, the suspects allegedly fled the scene in a car which was later found on the outskirts of the town of Istra, outside Moscow.

Killing rich Russian guys in saunas appears to be a growing trend.

Authoritarian businessman Alexander Petrov was murdered in a sauna in the city of Vyborg, near the border of Finland, in late October.

Ex-intelligence agent Gennady Gudkov told The Daily Beast that the latest murders should be a wake-up call for the entire Russian elite to revisit their security situation.

“If I were a Russian oligarch today, I would pay attention both to Marugov’s assassination, which was skillfully done by a crossbow shooter, as well as to another recent assassination of businessman Alexander Petrov—he was killed as he was walking out of his sauna, a place where one is so vulnerable,” Gudkov said.

By Monday evening, police had caught one of the men they believe to be Marugov’s killer. While it is still unclear who was behind the killings, Gudkov, a longtime manager of a security firm, reckons it was an organised hit.

“I once managed to prevent a contract murder: a wife had ordered her husband’s assassination in revenge, after he raised rent for her shop; she later admitted to me her true intentions,” said Gudkov, who is experienced in investigating crimes in Russia.

“I am sure the investigators suspect Marugov’s closest family members [or] friends as some of the prime suspects.”

If I was an oligarch I’d avoid saunas for a while.

[source:dailybeast]