Police investigators in Russia’s Kaliningrad region on Monday discovered the decapitated body of the CEO of a local fertilizer company.
The chief executive, Alexei Sinitsyn, is believed to have died by suicide, according to a law enforcement source cited by the Vedomosti business newspaper.
Investigators told state news agencies that Sinitsyn’s body was found with an attached towing cable under a bridge outside the city of Kaliningrad. They said they were establishing the circumstances of his death.
Sinitsyn, 43, was the CEO of K-Potash Service, which has been developing the Nivensky-1 potassium-magnesium deposit in Kaliningrad since 2014. The ambitious project was originally planned to be launched in 2021, but has since been pushed back to 2032.
Former Kaliningrad region Governor Anton Alikhanov, who now serves as Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister, once touted the Nivensky-1 deposit project as one that could make the region a global leader in chlorine-free fertilizers.
According to corporate filings cited by the investigative outlet Agentstvo, the Dutch-registered company Vyrex B.V. owns K-Potash Service outright.
Authorities have not yet publicly commented on Sinitsyn’s death.
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