June 28, 2023 • 32 mins
In May 2022 a Russian billionaire engaged in a shamanic ritual in a bid to help cure his hangover and spiralling alcoholism. During the ritual, frog venom was injected into his blood stream. He soon died of a heart attack. Was this a case of misadventure, or did his Kremlin linked oil company have something to do with his demise?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Something strange is going on.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Who is killing Russian billionaires? Another Russian oligarch has been
found dead. Reports suggests that he hanged himself, fell.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Out of a window, slashed his wrists, was poisoned, murdered
his whole family. Last year, more than a dozen Russian
oligarchs died in the space of nine months. Many of
the deaths are suspicious with links to the Kremlin. This
is sad Oligach, an investigation into these recently dead Russian billionaires.
(00:31):
It's created by me, Jake Hanrahan and my colleague Sergey Slipchenkok.
Sad Oligarch is a H eleven production for Kulso Media
and iHeartRadio. We all know about the vague stereotype that
(00:52):
Russians love to drink a lot. Russians have long been
depicted in Western entertainment as crazy, drunk caricatures who can
drink liters of vodka without issue. Now, Russia, of course,
does have a big drinking culture, as does many other countries,
my own included. Trust me, it's a shallow reflection of
(01:13):
a country's fabric to simply rely on these played out stereotypes.
That said, this oligarch death is one that sounds like
a plot to an exploitative Hollywood film. There's heavy drinking,
shamanic rituals, and a dead Russian billionaire with links to
one of the largest oil and gas companies in Russia.
(01:34):
That company, Luke Oil, is very friendly with the Kremlin.
This is the strange death of Alexander Sabochin. On twenty two,
forty three year old Alexander Sabochin woke up with a
particularly bad hangover. You probably know the kind mouth like
(01:56):
a desert eye, is sensitive head splitting into the lot.
So Bochin had been up the night before drinking heavily.
Sources suggest that this had been one night of many.
Subotchin had been on a drinking spree, down in large
amounts of alcohol for many days in a row. Heavy
drinking had become a problem for him. It wasn't just
(02:18):
a celebration, a night out, or a one off. With
a head full of drink and stuff to do to,
Botching sought out an unconventional hangover cure. Your ravage drinker
might double up on a barako or hit the sauna,
but not so Botching. He was extremely wealthy, so he
paid to see a shaman. As unusual as that might
(02:40):
sound to some, the belief in shamanism is something not
entirely unheard of in Russia, especially not amongst the country's elite.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Sergery explains, in Russia, the occult kind of came up
as an answer to kind of all the cases been
going on. There has been a lot of m morel
in Russia. Basically the past one hundred years had three
major changes from Imperial Russia to communism and then now
to whatever this is. People turn towards this. It's like
(03:11):
superstition and things like that. And then like Shawmanism specifically
came from kind of the intermingling of cultures. You know,
there's a lot of tribes in eastern eastern northern Russia
where this is just their way of life for a
long long time, and it kind of got, i guess,
adopted by Western Russians into something more like mysticism, you know,
(03:33):
looking for an answer, looking for alternative ways, they seek healing,
They kind of seek an answer of like a more
spiritual answer. And basically the Russian lead they see this
as like covering all bases, and those who can afford it,
they get private sessions, they get private sciances. This is
not exactly new. If you look at the last couple
(03:54):
of years of Imperial Russia, I think most people know
some aspect of the whole respute and story where the
tzar's wife was seeking basically any cure for their son
who I forget the name of the disease, but basically
if he bled or something, he couldn't stop, like he
would bleed out to death. Seemingly, the only answer they
(04:14):
could find was whatever Resputin did. As far as people
could tell, he was some kind of mystic almost t
wizard person, right, and they really believe that, like they
really got into that, and that kind of stuck around.
When there's so much like turmoil, so much shit going on,
you just kind of turn to other explanations, you know,
(04:35):
the only thing that you kind of think can help
or save you. You can't trust the government, you can't
really trust the like regular institutions. You turn to whatever
it might be that give you that hope or that
answer to your questions. But you see this like certain levels.
You know, you see celebrities, you see oligarchs and other
(04:59):
kind of like up there people who they definitely use
the services, they're friends with them. You know, they literally
have like celebrity shamans or celebrity mystics, you know, one
of the like Primetime Reality TV is a battle of
the psychics, and it's essentially like, I don't know, it's
(05:21):
like a it's kind of hard to explain what I'm
seeing it. It's basically like who's the best psychic? And
they have different challenges. They try to figure out murder mysteries.
They try to well, I mean according to them, they talk,
they do sol murder mysteries, they speak with the dead
and such, and somehow they compete for whoever is the best.
(05:41):
It's popular stuff like people watch this. I'm sure a
lot of people are skeptical or kind of see it
as like a fun, kind of dumb show too much,
But I think a lot of people do kind of
if they don't believe it, they're kind of on the
side where like you know what, who knows maybe enough
to the point where it is relevant in society. People
(06:03):
do get readings. People go like regular people go for
readings and stuff, right, and then if you're can to
afford it, you can have a celebrity shaman come and
give you some kind of seance to get your hangar overcured,
and I just guess this time it kind of show
that these shamans might not exactly be you know, experts,
(06:26):
but maybe grifters who don't exactly know what they're doing
and get you killed.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
A revival of shamanism in Russia is something that became
particularly popular in Siberia, the large desolate region in the
country's east. Journalist Jessin Mater wrote about this in twenty fifteen.
He said, quote, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Herald
did a religious revival throughout Russia. Perhaps unexpectedly, shamanism has
(06:55):
achieved newfound popularity, not just in its traditional homeland, but
also across Russia and beyond. Although the Tenjair belief a
type of shamanism is originally a practice of the ethnic
Burriats who have historically inhabited Siberia, many of the visitors
to the temple and some of its shamans are ethnic
(07:16):
Russians end quote. This journalist was actually present at one
of the more traditional shamanic rituals. He describes two shamans
stood on one side of the room, wearing bright blue
robes with hats that cover their eyes. Some shamans believe
that spirits are afraid to look into the eyes of
a human being. The shamans beat drums and chant frantically
(07:41):
on the other side of the room. Ritual participants are
guided on what movements to make and what phrases to
say to follow the rules of the ritual. In this
type of shamanism, no type of elixir or medicine is
consumed or administered. That's not always the case, stock The
head of the s Yamen Center in urkust Vitally Balteyev,
(08:03):
has spoken about a rise in Russia of what he
calls neo shamanism. Neo shamanism is basically an amalgamation of
various different ancient shamanic practices repurposed for people interested in
New Age type religions. These ones often involve various mixtures
(08:24):
and intoxicants that have to be consumed by the person
having the ritual performed on them. This is the kind
of ritual Alexander Subotchin was involved in before he died
(08:54):
in May twenty twenty two. Subochin sought out the shamanic
services of Tino Korda and Magua Floes, also known by
their real names Christina Tea Krub and Alexi Pinduran respectively.
These two are self proclaimed shamans in Russia. They're most
definitely more involved in the new age bracket of this practice.
(09:19):
Before this incident where Sebochin died, the two shamans had
a pretty sleek media presence online. There are several professional
photos of the pair, both white in their shaman get up.
One image shows Christina ta Krub dressed in a long
patterned robe with a Native American style headdress made of
(09:39):
white feathers. Next to her stands Alexi Penduran, dressed in
a diamond patterned robe with a turquoise and red fez
shaped hat. A black feather is placed into the top
of the hat, and Penduran is hitting a large raw
hired drum with a wooden club. Honestly, it looks like
they're playing dresser. It doesn't help that Penduring can be
(10:02):
seen wearing a black hoodie under his shamanic rogue. Either way,
the pair took shamanism very seriously on the outside, and
they made money out of it. They put in a
lot of effort to form their shamanic brand. For example,
Penduran's now defunct YouTube channel under his pseudonym Magua Flores
(10:24):
has a well produced ten minute long video where he
performs a ritual with a more traditional shaman. It has
over ten thousand the views. The only other public release
on the channel is a very weird cringe music video,
which admittedly shows the popularity of the couple. Many different
(10:44):
scenes play out with dozens and dozens of people, all
of them Western in appearance, attending tea Grub and Penduran's
shamanic rituals. On there now abandoned Instagram account, they have
a photo in a recording studio with Nikita Jigorda. He
is also in the music video Jigorda sixty two is
(11:07):
a Ukrainian born actor and singer. He stays in Russia,
where he's famous. Jagorda is pro Putin and has publicly
celebrated the Russian invasion of Ukraine with particularly bare faced bloodluss.
There are even videos on his Instagram account where he's
(11:30):
in Zaparija in Ukraine with Russian forces. He's cheering them
on to his three hundred and forty thousand followers. He's
dressed in full military fatigues and he's throwing his hands
up in the air with joy as mortars are fired
off with the aim of striking Ukrainian forces who are
defending their lands. In the caption, he condemns Ukraine and
(11:54):
he says that he's been performing occult rituals on the
front line to help the occupying Russian forces. Weird. Needless
to say, the self proclaimed shaman's tea grub and pinduring
have been operating in some strange circles in Russia for
years now. They've also been offering their services to anyone
(12:15):
who can afford it. In twenty twenty two, Alexander Sebotchin
took part in these services in the midst of a
one on one ceremony in the basement of the shaman's home,
presumably with incense in the air, several burning candles and
abided hat placed on his head, he had toad venoma
put into his bloodstream via an incision made into his skin.
(12:39):
This was administered by tea grub and pinduring. Alexander Subotchin
then had a heart attack. The shamans tried to treat
him with valerian a herb Tabatchin soon died of cardiac arrest.
Whilst the full autopsy isn't public, it's presumed that the
(13:01):
toad venom is what caused the heart attack. According to
the National Capital Poison Center and organization dedicated to preventing poisonings,
some of the toxins in toad venom, such as digoxin, tryptomines,
and tetro detoxin, can cause irregular heart rhythms, dizziness, paralysis,
(13:23):
and heart attack. This is what the two shamans injected
into the skin of Alexander Subotchin to try and treat
his alcohol problems after he'd been on a long bender
of drinking alcohol. I spoke to scientists and researcher Jovanna
Maxich about the kind of shamanism Tea Group and Penduring
(13:47):
were involved in. She has knowledge on these kinds of
practices with an anthropological background in similar communities.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
From what I gathered, their type of shamanism seems to
be kind of a syncretic mix of already existing traditions.
But weirdly, there were not any kind of indigenous or
Slavic practices that you would find in Russia today. There
were actually a mixture of Afro Caribbean and South American practices. So,
(14:16):
for example, the specific toad venom ritual comes from the Amazon.
So these people have seemed to really use these mostly
South American traditions in their shamanic practices. Shaman Magua Flores
his real name being alexey Pin Durin and his wife
(14:37):
Tina Cordova or Christina Taikrib. It seems like these people
have been running the kind of open house specifically for rich,
wealthy Moscow vites to come and sort of indulge in
these black magic rituals and drugs. According to a famous
makeup artist who actually got involved in a very negative
(14:58):
way with the shamanic cup, well, she said that in
their house they have a basement where they practice black
magic rituals and here they keep animal blood, live animals
that they kill and then use for different sorts of rituals,
but also enough psychotropic substances and drugs to send somebody
(15:19):
to prison for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Remember at the start when I said this case sounds
like a bad Hollywood movie, Well, this is where the
black magic comes in. Whilst it might sound over the
top or how to believe, for some occultism has been
making a steady revival all across the world for the
last decade. Even the practice of so called black magic,
(15:43):
often linked to left hand path occultism. In fact, in
Russia in twenty twenty one, a couple who believed heavily
in the occult were arrested and charged for committing several
human sacrifices. Real ones Olga Bolshakhova and Andre true Jabenko
stabbed several people to death in the forest as part
(16:04):
of their twisted beliefs. The murders occurred in twenty sixteen,
but were kept hidden for five years. It's believed many
other people were involved in the couple's occult group, currently
there awaiting trial. So whilst this story about the neo
shaman's Taikarub and Penduring having a basement for black magic
(16:27):
might sound absolutely mental, it's actually quite plausible. Remember the
two were pictured with that actor Nikita Jagorda, who openly
talks about performing occult rituals. He also has a black
son tattoo on his right elbow. The black son symbolizes
esoteric fascism and dark occultism. Anyway, let's hear what else
(16:52):
Yovanna Maxich had to say.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So this seems to be kind of like more running institutions,
so to say, for the elites coming there to treat
their ailments. But very interestingly, this case with the makeup
artist is actually really strange because it seems like this
shamanic couple organizes some kind of retreat where they invite
(17:16):
people to come, and this retreat kind of went badly
for this person. So essentially what happened is this makeup
artist was flown over to Mexico to go on a
retreat with this weird couple and the idea is that
they would go there and somehow help with spiritual healing, ailments,
(17:39):
you name it. And what happened, according to her report,
is that already in the first couple of days, the
couple started getting drunk on tequila and brought all of
these like real shamans from Peru and Mexico and started
being kind of aggressive and violent towards this makeup artist.
(18:00):
One of the main reasons why they wanted to go
there is so that they could do this ritual that
actually involves toad venom. So that's something that you know,
was the acclaimed cause of the death of Alexander Subuchin.
But this ritual called cambo is actually comprised of making
incisions or burns on a person in and then adding
(18:22):
this toad venom, which kind of like creates convulsions, vomiting,
and after that you feel kind of like spiritual enlightenment
or healing if you survive. If you survive, yeah, because
people have died actually by you know, the wrong use
or just irresponsible use of this cumbo ritual. But what
(18:43):
happened to this person is she noticed that, Okay, things
are dodgy, this is weird. They're becoming really aggressive and drunk.
So she called her husband and she tried to leave
the retreat, but when she tried to do that, the
couple allegedly beat her up, and then when she wanted
to go to the police and report what happened, the
couple basically like blackmailed her and claimed that they're going
(19:07):
to kill her with different drugs and chemicals, and also
that they have many enemies that they know how to
eliminate very easily. So nothing really happened in this case,
but it's out there and it's been documented.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
They're probably making quite a bit of money, right, I mean,
Subbortching himself was an out and out billionaire, an oil barren. Essentially,
they must be making quite a lot of money to
be in these circles.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, totally. I mean, I'm certain, and also from the
reports that exist, it sounds like a lot of different
very vip and wealthy people were mingling in this house
and coming in buying, so it must be making bang right.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
So on one hand, I'm thinking, well, this might actually
just be a coincidence. It's a case of misadventure. For
some reason, this Russian billionaire went to this weird dodgy ritual. Yes,
his company has ties to the Kremlin, but maybe this
one was a coincidence. Why would they kill him with
frog venom? But there is a history right in Russia
(20:11):
of people being knocked off, assassinated with strange poison, strange concoctions.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, This is actually a famous phenomenon called the
Liternoe or like literno assassinations. So as we know, in
the Putin era we've seen a lot of these strange
poisonings and murders of different political opponents and writers. But
in Stalinist Russia, these types of killings were specifically framed
(20:39):
as Liternoi killings, and they were secret, disguised liquidations that
were often staged to be natural deaths or suicides. So
the NTVD, which was the Soviet Union's Interior Ministry. They're
the factor Walter Kivitski who killed many for Stalin and
then was himself in a fake suicide. He said that
(21:03):
any fool could murder someone, but it takes a true
artist to stage a natural death from disease or suicide.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, I don't think it's a stretch, particularly if we
look at, for example, Alexander Livignenko was poisoned for essentially
wearing that book blowing up Russia, various people infected with
polonium put into their tea. I don't think it's a
stretch personally to think. Yeah, perhaps Putin has tried to
carry that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
On, Yeah, totally. But really for this shaman case, I'm
really not sure what to think. There's so many weird coincidences,
but it does look pretty possible as well, because there's
already documented cases of people dying specifically from this. But
then the question is did someone manipulate the ritual? Did
(21:52):
someone know exactly what kind of venom to use? Because
if you use the vendom of a different frog, you
can kill people much easily. So if you just tweak
certain elements in there, or just you know, slide another
drug to this, person it's easy to kill, But then
why would they kill him? That's the question.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
That is the question. If Alexander Subochin was killed and
this wasn't just some weird shamanic accident, who killed him
and why is there an obvious motive. For most of
(22:44):
his life, Alexander Sebochin managed to keep his name out
of the media. He enjoyed his privacy. Not much is
known about his early career, but after completing his PhD
in two thousand and nine, Subochin joined multinational energy u
corporation Louke Oil. His brother also worked there. By the
(23:04):
time of Alexander Sebotchin's death in twenty twenty two, he
was a member of the board. That's a prestigious position
to have considering how much money the company makes. Luke Oil,
which is headquartered in Moscow, produces more than two percent
of all the world's oil and around one percent of
proved hydrocarbon reserves. They refine more than a million barrels
(23:28):
of oil a day and employ over one hundred thousand people.
This is a massive operation that's been going since nineteen
ninety one. A Russian corporation with this much clout naturally
has links to the Russian government. One of the more
direct links, perhaps is Russian oligarch vejet Alekparov. Elekporov, who's
(23:52):
of Aziri descent, was the president of Luke Oil from
nineteen ninety three to twenty twenty two. He's worth an
estimated nineteen billion US dollars and is believed to be
the fifth richest man in Russia. Now. As I mentioned
in episode one, some of the rich dead Russian businessmen
(24:14):
in this series are not necessarily oligach oligaks. Elektorov, however,
is one hundred percent an oligach oligach. He's in the
top one hundred of the richest people on Earth and
had a twenty eight point three percent stake of Lukoyl
as of twenty twenty two. What's more, his friends with
(24:35):
Putin and was sanctioned by Britain when Russia invaded Ukraine
in February last year. In a statement from the British
government's official sanctions list, they said, quote through his directorship
of Lukoyl, Elekorov continues to obtain a benefit from and
or continues to support the government of Russia by working
(24:58):
as a director, trustee or equivalent of entities carrying on
business in sectors of strategic significance to the Government of Russia,
namely the Russian energy sector. Endsco Archived copies of Lukoyl's
tax payments to the Kremlin seen by journalist Rob Davies
(25:20):
show that the company contributed more than six billion dollars
to the Kremlin in twenty twenty alone. Tax documents after
that are not available. In April twenty twenty two, Alekporov
stepped down as the president of Loakoil due to the
sanctions issues. Before this, there had already been trouble after
(25:42):
Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lakoyl's London listed shares lost roughly
ninety nine percent of their value. That's a hell of
a lot of money. War at that time was definitely
not good for business for Lakoil, so much so that
they broke ranks with Putin after more than twenty years.
(26:06):
Board of directors of Lukoil, which Alexander Subotchin was part of,
released a public statement on March third, twenty twenty two,
condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine just one week after it started.
For Putin, that must have been a slap in the face.
(26:26):
Subochin was still alive at this time and would have
been involved in the statement. The board said the following quote.
The Board of Directors of Lukoil expresses its deepest concerns
about the tragic events in Ukraine, calling for the soonest
termination of the armed conflict. We express our sincere empathy
(26:46):
for all victims who are affected by this tragedy. We
strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems
through serious negotiations and diplomacy. The company may makes every
effort to continue its operations in all countries and regions
where it is present, Committed to its primary mission of
(27:09):
a reliable supplier of energy to consumers around the world.
In its activities, Lukoil aspires to contribute to peace, international
relations and humanitarian ties. End quote. Now, Honestly, I doubt
the Board of Directors of Lucoyl care at all about Ukraine, really,
(27:31):
but they clearly do care about the company's profit margins.
The war began to seriously disrupt that at the time
of their statement. However, more than a year after the invasion,
Lucoil has managed to weather the storm. As reported by
journalist Victor Jack, Lucoil is still actually operating hundreds of
(27:54):
gas stations and oil refineries in the EU. This made
them a net profit of eight billion dollars within the
first nine months of twenty twenty two, when Russia was,
of course actively trying to destroy Ukraine. That's more than
double the amount from the same time period in twenty
(28:15):
twenty one. So Lukoil actually made more money as the
war went on, partially facilitated by their work in the EU.
This money was of course shared with the Kremlin via taxes,
and no doubt helped them to manufacture and purchase new
weapons for their continued attacks on Ukraine. Either way, despite
(28:39):
securing the bag later on in the year, Lukoil went
against Putin publicly as the whole world had its eyes
on Russia and Ukraine. Even as a powerful billionaire in Russia,
it's not wise to go against the Kremlin for me.
After looking at all of this information, this leaves two
(29:00):
possible theories regarding the death of Alexander Subotchin. First theory,
he was a very rich alcoholic who, like many Russian elites,
decided to enlist the help of the Neo Shamans to
kick his habit. And get sober in the process, a
dodgy ritual with frog venom ended his life by accident,
(29:23):
essentially death by misadventure, and two grifters who messed up
the concoctions. The timing of the death, Subotchin's position at
luk Oil, and their very public defiance to Putin is
all just a coincidence. As they say, sometimes a cigar
is just a cigar. Second theory, Alexander Sebochin was on
(29:45):
the board of Lukoil when they released a statement against
Putin's war on Ukraine. Maybe he was instrumental in that statement.
Perhaps Putin wanted him gone because of this, it'd be
easy for Putin's people to gather in f mation on Subotchin.
Maybe they waited for a few months, heard about the
shamanic ritual, and decided now was the time. Maybe they
(30:08):
had the frog venom swapped for something more potent, or
maybe the shamans were in their pocket and they told
them to simply up the dose. Now, personally, I was
a lot more inclined to believe the first theory. Misadventures
seemed more likely then. As me and Sergey continued our research,
(30:30):
we saw that another board member of Lukeoyle died just
four months after Alexander Subotchin. His name was Ravil Maganov.
He was the sixty seven year old chairman of Lukoyle.
In September twenty twenty two, he fell out of a
window at a hospital in Moscow. In a public statement,
(30:54):
Lukoyle simply said that Maganov passed away of quote a
severe ill, with no mention about the four We'll be
looking into the death of Maganov later on in this series,
but I think at the very least it makes Alexander
Subotchin's death a bit more suspicious. Sad Oliger is a
(31:28):
H eleven production for cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio, hosted, produced, researched,
and edited by me Jake Hanrahan and Sergei Slipchenkok co
produced by Sophie Lichtmin. Music by Sam Black, artwork by
Adam mcdoyle, sound mix by Splicing Block. Go to Jakeanrahan
(31:51):
dot com for more information.
Something strange is going on.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Who is killing Russian billionaires? Another Russian oligarch has been
found dead. Reports suggests that he hanged himself, fell.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Out of a window, slashed his wrists, was poisoned, murdered
his whole family. Last year, more than a dozen Russian
oligarchs died in the space of nine months. Many of
the deaths are suspicious with links to the Kremlin. This
is sad Oligach, an investigation into these recently dead Russian billionaires.
(00:31):
It's created by me, Jake Hanrahan and my colleague Sergey Slipchenkok.
Sad Oligarch is a H eleven production for Kulso Media
and iHeartRadio. We all know about the vague stereotype that
(00:52):
Russians love to drink a lot. Russians have long been
depicted in Western entertainment as crazy, drunk caricatures who can
drink liters of vodka without issue. Now, Russia, of course,
does have a big drinking culture, as does many other countries,
my own included. Trust me, it's a shallow reflection of
(01:13):
a country's fabric to simply rely on these played out stereotypes.
That said, this oligarch death is one that sounds like
a plot to an exploitative Hollywood film. There's heavy drinking,
shamanic rituals, and a dead Russian billionaire with links to
one of the largest oil and gas companies in Russia.
(01:34):
That company, Luke Oil, is very friendly with the Kremlin.
This is the strange death of Alexander Sabochin. On twenty two,
forty three year old Alexander Sabochin woke up with a
particularly bad hangover. You probably know the kind mouth like
(01:56):
a desert eye, is sensitive head splitting into the lot.
So Bochin had been up the night before drinking heavily.
Sources suggest that this had been one night of many.
Subotchin had been on a drinking spree, down in large
amounts of alcohol for many days in a row. Heavy
drinking had become a problem for him. It wasn't just
(02:18):
a celebration, a night out, or a one off. With
a head full of drink and stuff to do to,
Botching sought out an unconventional hangover cure. Your ravage drinker
might double up on a barako or hit the sauna,
but not so Botching. He was extremely wealthy, so he
paid to see a shaman. As unusual as that might
(02:40):
sound to some, the belief in shamanism is something not
entirely unheard of in Russia, especially not amongst the country's elite.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Sergery explains, in Russia, the occult kind of came up
as an answer to kind of all the cases been
going on. There has been a lot of m morel
in Russia. Basically the past one hundred years had three
major changes from Imperial Russia to communism and then now
to whatever this is. People turn towards this. It's like
(03:11):
superstition and things like that. And then like Shawmanism specifically
came from kind of the intermingling of cultures. You know,
there's a lot of tribes in eastern eastern northern Russia
where this is just their way of life for a
long long time, and it kind of got, i guess,
adopted by Western Russians into something more like mysticism, you know,
(03:33):
looking for an answer, looking for alternative ways, they seek healing,
They kind of seek an answer of like a more
spiritual answer. And basically the Russian lead they see this
as like covering all bases, and those who can afford it,
they get private sessions, they get private sciances. This is
not exactly new. If you look at the last couple
(03:54):
of years of Imperial Russia, I think most people know
some aspect of the whole respute and story where the
tzar's wife was seeking basically any cure for their son
who I forget the name of the disease, but basically
if he bled or something, he couldn't stop, like he
would bleed out to death. Seemingly, the only answer they
(04:14):
could find was whatever Resputin did. As far as people
could tell, he was some kind of mystic almost t
wizard person, right, and they really believe that, like they
really got into that, and that kind of stuck around.
When there's so much like turmoil, so much shit going on,
you just kind of turn to other explanations, you know,
(04:35):
the only thing that you kind of think can help
or save you. You can't trust the government, you can't
really trust the like regular institutions. You turn to whatever
it might be that give you that hope or that
answer to your questions. But you see this like certain levels.
You know, you see celebrities, you see oligarchs and other
(04:59):
kind of like up there people who they definitely use
the services, they're friends with them. You know, they literally
have like celebrity shamans or celebrity mystics, you know, one
of the like Primetime Reality TV is a battle of
the psychics, and it's essentially like, I don't know, it's
(05:21):
like a it's kind of hard to explain what I'm
seeing it. It's basically like who's the best psychic? And
they have different challenges. They try to figure out murder mysteries.
They try to well, I mean according to them, they talk,
they do sol murder mysteries, they speak with the dead
and such, and somehow they compete for whoever is the best.
(05:41):
It's popular stuff like people watch this. I'm sure a
lot of people are skeptical or kind of see it
as like a fun, kind of dumb show too much,
But I think a lot of people do kind of
if they don't believe it, they're kind of on the
side where like you know what, who knows maybe enough
to the point where it is relevant in society. People
(06:03):
do get readings. People go like regular people go for
readings and stuff, right, and then if you're can to
afford it, you can have a celebrity shaman come and
give you some kind of seance to get your hangar overcured,
and I just guess this time it kind of show
that these shamans might not exactly be you know, experts,
(06:26):
but maybe grifters who don't exactly know what they're doing
and get you killed.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
A revival of shamanism in Russia is something that became
particularly popular in Siberia, the large desolate region in the
country's east. Journalist Jessin Mater wrote about this in twenty fifteen.
He said, quote, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Herald
did a religious revival throughout Russia. Perhaps unexpectedly, shamanism has
(06:55):
achieved newfound popularity, not just in its traditional homeland, but
also across Russia and beyond. Although the Tenjair belief a
type of shamanism is originally a practice of the ethnic
Burriats who have historically inhabited Siberia, many of the visitors
to the temple and some of its shamans are ethnic
(07:16):
Russians end quote. This journalist was actually present at one
of the more traditional shamanic rituals. He describes two shamans
stood on one side of the room, wearing bright blue
robes with hats that cover their eyes. Some shamans believe
that spirits are afraid to look into the eyes of
a human being. The shamans beat drums and chant frantically
(07:41):
on the other side of the room. Ritual participants are
guided on what movements to make and what phrases to
say to follow the rules of the ritual. In this
type of shamanism, no type of elixir or medicine is
consumed or administered. That's not always the case, stock The
head of the s Yamen Center in urkust Vitally Balteyev,
(08:03):
has spoken about a rise in Russia of what he
calls neo shamanism. Neo shamanism is basically an amalgamation of
various different ancient shamanic practices repurposed for people interested in
New Age type religions. These ones often involve various mixtures
(08:24):
and intoxicants that have to be consumed by the person
having the ritual performed on them. This is the kind
of ritual Alexander Subotchin was involved in before he died
(08:54):
in May twenty twenty two. Subochin sought out the shamanic
services of Tino Korda and Magua Floes, also known by
their real names Christina Tea Krub and Alexi Pinduran respectively.
These two are self proclaimed shamans in Russia. They're most
definitely more involved in the new age bracket of this practice.
(09:19):
Before this incident where Sebochin died, the two shamans had
a pretty sleek media presence online. There are several professional
photos of the pair, both white in their shaman get up.
One image shows Christina ta Krub dressed in a long
patterned robe with a Native American style headdress made of
(09:39):
white feathers. Next to her stands Alexi Penduran, dressed in
a diamond patterned robe with a turquoise and red fez
shaped hat. A black feather is placed into the top
of the hat, and Penduran is hitting a large raw
hired drum with a wooden club. Honestly, it looks like
they're playing dresser. It doesn't help that Penduring can be
(10:02):
seen wearing a black hoodie under his shamanic rogue. Either way,
the pair took shamanism very seriously on the outside, and
they made money out of it. They put in a
lot of effort to form their shamanic brand. For example,
Penduran's now defunct YouTube channel under his pseudonym Magua Flores
(10:24):
has a well produced ten minute long video where he
performs a ritual with a more traditional shaman. It has
over ten thousand the views. The only other public release
on the channel is a very weird cringe music video,
which admittedly shows the popularity of the couple. Many different
(10:44):
scenes play out with dozens and dozens of people, all
of them Western in appearance, attending tea Grub and Penduran's
shamanic rituals. On there now abandoned Instagram account, they have
a photo in a recording studio with Nikita Jigorda. He
is also in the music video Jigorda sixty two is
(11:07):
a Ukrainian born actor and singer. He stays in Russia,
where he's famous. Jagorda is pro Putin and has publicly
celebrated the Russian invasion of Ukraine with particularly bare faced bloodluss.
There are even videos on his Instagram account where he's
(11:30):
in Zaparija in Ukraine with Russian forces. He's cheering them
on to his three hundred and forty thousand followers. He's
dressed in full military fatigues and he's throwing his hands
up in the air with joy as mortars are fired
off with the aim of striking Ukrainian forces who are
defending their lands. In the caption, he condemns Ukraine and
(11:54):
he says that he's been performing occult rituals on the
front line to help the occupying Russian forces. Weird. Needless
to say, the self proclaimed shaman's tea grub and pinduring
have been operating in some strange circles in Russia for
years now. They've also been offering their services to anyone
(12:15):
who can afford it. In twenty twenty two, Alexander Sebotchin
took part in these services in the midst of a
one on one ceremony in the basement of the shaman's home,
presumably with incense in the air, several burning candles and
abided hat placed on his head, he had toad venoma
put into his bloodstream via an incision made into his skin.
(12:39):
This was administered by tea grub and pinduring. Alexander Subotchin
then had a heart attack. The shamans tried to treat
him with valerian a herb Tabatchin soon died of cardiac arrest.
Whilst the full autopsy isn't public, it's presumed that the
(13:01):
toad venom is what caused the heart attack. According to
the National Capital Poison Center and organization dedicated to preventing poisonings,
some of the toxins in toad venom, such as digoxin, tryptomines,
and tetro detoxin, can cause irregular heart rhythms, dizziness, paralysis,
(13:23):
and heart attack. This is what the two shamans injected
into the skin of Alexander Subotchin to try and treat
his alcohol problems after he'd been on a long bender
of drinking alcohol. I spoke to scientists and researcher Jovanna
Maxich about the kind of shamanism Tea Group and Penduring
(13:47):
were involved in. She has knowledge on these kinds of
practices with an anthropological background in similar communities.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
From what I gathered, their type of shamanism seems to
be kind of a syncretic mix of already existing traditions.
But weirdly, there were not any kind of indigenous or
Slavic practices that you would find in Russia today. There
were actually a mixture of Afro Caribbean and South American practices. So,
(14:16):
for example, the specific toad venom ritual comes from the Amazon.
So these people have seemed to really use these mostly
South American traditions in their shamanic practices. Shaman Magua Flores
his real name being alexey Pin Durin and his wife
(14:37):
Tina Cordova or Christina Taikrib. It seems like these people
have been running the kind of open house specifically for rich,
wealthy Moscow vites to come and sort of indulge in
these black magic rituals and drugs. According to a famous
makeup artist who actually got involved in a very negative
(14:58):
way with the shamanic cup, well, she said that in
their house they have a basement where they practice black
magic rituals and here they keep animal blood, live animals
that they kill and then use for different sorts of rituals,
but also enough psychotropic substances and drugs to send somebody
(15:19):
to prison for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Remember at the start when I said this case sounds
like a bad Hollywood movie, Well, this is where the
black magic comes in. Whilst it might sound over the
top or how to believe, for some occultism has been
making a steady revival all across the world for the
last decade. Even the practice of so called black magic,
(15:43):
often linked to left hand path occultism. In fact, in
Russia in twenty twenty one, a couple who believed heavily
in the occult were arrested and charged for committing several
human sacrifices. Real ones Olga Bolshakhova and Andre true Jabenko
stabbed several people to death in the forest as part
(16:04):
of their twisted beliefs. The murders occurred in twenty sixteen,
but were kept hidden for five years. It's believed many
other people were involved in the couple's occult group, currently
there awaiting trial. So whilst this story about the neo
shaman's Taikarub and Penduring having a basement for black magic
(16:27):
might sound absolutely mental, it's actually quite plausible. Remember the
two were pictured with that actor Nikita Jagorda, who openly
talks about performing occult rituals. He also has a black
son tattoo on his right elbow. The black son symbolizes
esoteric fascism and dark occultism. Anyway, let's hear what else
(16:52):
Yovanna Maxich had to say.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So this seems to be kind of like more running institutions,
so to say, for the elites coming there to treat
their ailments. But very interestingly, this case with the makeup
artist is actually really strange because it seems like this
shamanic couple organizes some kind of retreat where they invite
(17:16):
people to come, and this retreat kind of went badly
for this person. So essentially what happened is this makeup
artist was flown over to Mexico to go on a
retreat with this weird couple and the idea is that
they would go there and somehow help with spiritual healing, ailments,
(17:39):
you name it. And what happened, according to her report,
is that already in the first couple of days, the
couple started getting drunk on tequila and brought all of
these like real shamans from Peru and Mexico and started
being kind of aggressive and violent towards this makeup artist.
(18:00):
One of the main reasons why they wanted to go
there is so that they could do this ritual that
actually involves toad venom. So that's something that you know,
was the acclaimed cause of the death of Alexander Subuchin.
But this ritual called cambo is actually comprised of making
incisions or burns on a person in and then adding
(18:22):
this toad venom, which kind of like creates convulsions, vomiting,
and after that you feel kind of like spiritual enlightenment
or healing if you survive. If you survive, yeah, because
people have died actually by you know, the wrong use
or just irresponsible use of this cumbo ritual. But what
(18:43):
happened to this person is she noticed that, Okay, things
are dodgy, this is weird. They're becoming really aggressive and drunk.
So she called her husband and she tried to leave
the retreat, but when she tried to do that, the
couple allegedly beat her up, and then when she wanted
to go to the police and report what happened, the
couple basically like blackmailed her and claimed that they're going
(19:07):
to kill her with different drugs and chemicals, and also
that they have many enemies that they know how to
eliminate very easily. So nothing really happened in this case,
but it's out there and it's been documented.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
They're probably making quite a bit of money, right, I mean,
Subbortching himself was an out and out billionaire, an oil barren. Essentially,
they must be making quite a lot of money to
be in these circles.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, totally. I mean, I'm certain, and also from the
reports that exist, it sounds like a lot of different
very vip and wealthy people were mingling in this house
and coming in buying, so it must be making bang right.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
So on one hand, I'm thinking, well, this might actually
just be a coincidence. It's a case of misadventure. For
some reason, this Russian billionaire went to this weird dodgy ritual. Yes,
his company has ties to the Kremlin, but maybe this
one was a coincidence. Why would they kill him with
frog venom? But there is a history right in Russia
(20:11):
of people being knocked off, assassinated with strange poison, strange concoctions.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, This is actually a famous phenomenon called the
Liternoe or like literno assassinations. So as we know, in
the Putin era we've seen a lot of these strange
poisonings and murders of different political opponents and writers. But
in Stalinist Russia, these types of killings were specifically framed
(20:39):
as Liternoi killings, and they were secret, disguised liquidations that
were often staged to be natural deaths or suicides. So
the NTVD, which was the Soviet Union's Interior Ministry. They're
the factor Walter Kivitski who killed many for Stalin and
then was himself in a fake suicide. He said that
(21:03):
any fool could murder someone, but it takes a true
artist to stage a natural death from disease or suicide.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, I don't think it's a stretch, particularly if we
look at, for example, Alexander Livignenko was poisoned for essentially
wearing that book blowing up Russia, various people infected with
polonium put into their tea. I don't think it's a
stretch personally to think. Yeah, perhaps Putin has tried to
carry that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
On, Yeah, totally. But really for this shaman case, I'm
really not sure what to think. There's so many weird coincidences,
but it does look pretty possible as well, because there's
already documented cases of people dying specifically from this. But
then the question is did someone manipulate the ritual? Did
(21:52):
someone know exactly what kind of venom to use? Because
if you use the vendom of a different frog, you
can kill people much easily. So if you just tweak
certain elements in there, or just you know, slide another
drug to this, person it's easy to kill, But then
why would they kill him? That's the question.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
That is the question. If Alexander Subochin was killed and
this wasn't just some weird shamanic accident, who killed him
and why is there an obvious motive. For most of
(22:44):
his life, Alexander Sebochin managed to keep his name out
of the media. He enjoyed his privacy. Not much is
known about his early career, but after completing his PhD
in two thousand and nine, Subochin joined multinational energy u
corporation Louke Oil. His brother also worked there. By the
(23:04):
time of Alexander Sebotchin's death in twenty twenty two, he
was a member of the board. That's a prestigious position
to have considering how much money the company makes. Luke Oil,
which is headquartered in Moscow, produces more than two percent
of all the world's oil and around one percent of
proved hydrocarbon reserves. They refine more than a million barrels
(23:28):
of oil a day and employ over one hundred thousand people.
This is a massive operation that's been going since nineteen
ninety one. A Russian corporation with this much clout naturally
has links to the Russian government. One of the more
direct links, perhaps is Russian oligarch vejet Alekparov. Elekporov, who's
(23:52):
of Aziri descent, was the president of Luke Oil from
nineteen ninety three to twenty twenty two. He's worth an
estimated nineteen billion US dollars and is believed to be
the fifth richest man in Russia. Now. As I mentioned
in episode one, some of the rich dead Russian businessmen
(24:14):
in this series are not necessarily oligach oligaks. Elektorov, however,
is one hundred percent an oligach oligach. He's in the
top one hundred of the richest people on Earth and
had a twenty eight point three percent stake of Lukoyl
as of twenty twenty two. What's more, his friends with
(24:35):
Putin and was sanctioned by Britain when Russia invaded Ukraine
in February last year. In a statement from the British
government's official sanctions list, they said, quote through his directorship
of Lukoyl, Elekorov continues to obtain a benefit from and
or continues to support the government of Russia by working
(24:58):
as a director, trustee or equivalent of entities carrying on
business in sectors of strategic significance to the Government of Russia,
namely the Russian energy sector. Endsco Archived copies of Lukoyl's
tax payments to the Kremlin seen by journalist Rob Davies
(25:20):
show that the company contributed more than six billion dollars
to the Kremlin in twenty twenty alone. Tax documents after
that are not available. In April twenty twenty two, Alekporov
stepped down as the president of Loakoil due to the
sanctions issues. Before this, there had already been trouble after
(25:42):
Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lakoyl's London listed shares lost roughly
ninety nine percent of their value. That's a hell of
a lot of money. War at that time was definitely
not good for business for Lakoil, so much so that
they broke ranks with Putin after more than twenty years.
(26:06):
Board of directors of Lukoil, which Alexander Subotchin was part of,
released a public statement on March third, twenty twenty two,
condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine just one week after it started.
For Putin, that must have been a slap in the face.
(26:26):
Subochin was still alive at this time and would have
been involved in the statement. The board said the following quote.
The Board of Directors of Lukoil expresses its deepest concerns
about the tragic events in Ukraine, calling for the soonest
termination of the armed conflict. We express our sincere empathy
(26:46):
for all victims who are affected by this tragedy. We
strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems
through serious negotiations and diplomacy. The company may makes every
effort to continue its operations in all countries and regions
where it is present, Committed to its primary mission of
(27:09):
a reliable supplier of energy to consumers around the world.
In its activities, Lukoil aspires to contribute to peace, international
relations and humanitarian ties. End quote. Now, Honestly, I doubt
the Board of Directors of Lucoyl care at all about Ukraine, really,
(27:31):
but they clearly do care about the company's profit margins.
The war began to seriously disrupt that at the time
of their statement. However, more than a year after the invasion,
Lucoil has managed to weather the storm. As reported by
journalist Victor Jack, Lucoil is still actually operating hundreds of
(27:54):
gas stations and oil refineries in the EU. This made
them a net profit of eight billion dollars within the
first nine months of twenty twenty two, when Russia was,
of course actively trying to destroy Ukraine. That's more than
double the amount from the same time period in twenty
(28:15):
twenty one. So Lukoil actually made more money as the
war went on, partially facilitated by their work in the EU.
This money was of course shared with the Kremlin via taxes,
and no doubt helped them to manufacture and purchase new
weapons for their continued attacks on Ukraine. Either way, despite
(28:39):
securing the bag later on in the year, Lukoil went
against Putin publicly as the whole world had its eyes
on Russia and Ukraine. Even as a powerful billionaire in Russia,
it's not wise to go against the Kremlin for me.
After looking at all of this information, this leaves two
(29:00):
possible theories regarding the death of Alexander Subotchin. First theory,
he was a very rich alcoholic who, like many Russian elites,
decided to enlist the help of the Neo Shamans to
kick his habit. And get sober in the process, a
dodgy ritual with frog venom ended his life by accident,
(29:23):
essentially death by misadventure, and two grifters who messed up
the concoctions. The timing of the death, Subotchin's position at
luk Oil, and their very public defiance to Putin is
all just a coincidence. As they say, sometimes a cigar
is just a cigar. Second theory, Alexander Sebochin was on
(29:45):
the board of Lukoil when they released a statement against
Putin's war on Ukraine. Maybe he was instrumental in that statement.
Perhaps Putin wanted him gone because of this, it'd be
easy for Putin's people to gather in f mation on Subotchin.
Maybe they waited for a few months, heard about the
shamanic ritual, and decided now was the time. Maybe they
(30:08):
had the frog venom swapped for something more potent, or
maybe the shamans were in their pocket and they told
them to simply up the dose. Now, personally, I was
a lot more inclined to believe the first theory. Misadventures
seemed more likely then. As me and Sergey continued our research,
(30:30):
we saw that another board member of Lukeoyle died just
four months after Alexander Subotchin. His name was Ravil Maganov.
He was the sixty seven year old chairman of Lukoyle.
In September twenty twenty two, he fell out of a
window at a hospital in Moscow. In a public statement,
(30:54):
Lukoyle simply said that Maganov passed away of quote a
severe ill, with no mention about the four We'll be
looking into the death of Maganov later on in this series,
but I think at the very least it makes Alexander
Subotchin's death a bit more suspicious. Sad Oliger is a
(31:28):
H eleven production for cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio, hosted, produced, researched,
and edited by me Jake Hanrahan and Sergei Slipchenkok co
produced by Sophie Lichtmin. Music by Sam Black, artwork by
Adam mcdoyle, sound mix by Splicing Block. Go to Jakeanrahan
(31:51):
dot com for more information.
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