[imagesource: Alamy Stock Photos]

One does not always speak out against Russian President Vladimir Putin and make it out alive.

Famous for expressing his cold-hearted reaction to anyone who betrays him – “traitors will kick the bucket” – quite a few high profile people who have outwardly criticised Putin have landed up dead.

These deaths almost always include mysterious and suspicious circumstances, like those doctors who fell out of windows after sharing that they weren’t happy with how Russia was handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perhaps only Alexei Navalny, Putin’s leading adversary, has managed to dodge the president’s undercover murderous antics.

Unfortunately, Russian oil tycoon Alexander Subbotin (above) died recently under weird circumstances, at a shaman’s house, reported Yahoo! Finance.

Apparently, the former top manager of Russian energy company Lukoil went to this shaman, who he was allegedly friendly with for some time, in need of a hangover cure.

His treatment for being incredibly intoxicated apparently included an elixir with toad venom, which either directly or indirectly led to his death.

Newsweek has more:

He was found dead in the basement of the home of a shaman in Mytishchi, a city just northeast of the capital city Moscow, on Sunday after suffering an apparent heart attack, Russian media outlet TASS reported. A criminal case into his death has been opened.

The billionaire allegedly went to the shaman’s home “in a state of severe alcoholic and drug intoxication the day before” his death, a source told TASS. His body was discovered in a room of the basement reportedly used for “Jamaican voodoo rituals.”

It must be noted that Subbotin is one of several Russian businesspeople who has died under such strange circumstances in the last few months:

At least six have as of late April… many of whom were linked to large Russian energy companies.

Sergey Protosenya, who worked as a top manager at another Russian energy company Novatek, was found dead with his wife and daughter in what could have been a staged murder-suicide.

Vladislav Avaev, the former vice president of bank Gazprombank, was also found in a similar situation with his wife and daughter.

Then there was also Alexander Tyulyakov, Gazprom’s Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center (UCC) for Corporate Security, and Vasily Melnikov, who worked for medical firm MedStorm, who both died offhandedly:

“In all cases, there are widespread suspicions that the deaths may have been staged as suicides, but who did this and why?” Grzegorz Kuczyński, director of the Warsaw Institute’s Eurasia Program, told Fortune, Insider noted.

Subbotin’s death happened months after Lukoil called for a quick end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, so…

All eyes are on Putin.

[sources:yahoo!finance&newsweek]