Russian Poisonings: What Killed Alexander Perepilichnyy? (PART 1)

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A Russian whistle-blower who revealed fraud of over $220 million dollars by Russian senior officials, collapses and dies while jogging. He was 44-years-old, and by all accounts healthy. The official coroner report states that he died of a heart attack, but others close to the millionaire say he was on a Russian hit list and poisoned. So, the question that remains is what killed Alexander Perepilichnyy?

Alexander Perepilichnyy

EARLY AND PERSONAL LIFE 

Alexander Yurevich Perepilichnyy was originally from West Ukraine. His father was a surgeon who died in relation to the Chernobyl disaster. He developed leukaemia and died soon after volunteering to help. 

Perepilichnyy was a scientist by education, having studied technical science and physics at well-known Russian university, PhysTech. His passion was to study DNA. While he was a student in Moscow, in the 1980s, he met his wife Tatiana, and they had two children together after they finished their studies. While he was a student, Alexander dabbled in entrepreneurial ventures to make money to sustain his young family. First, he worked with computers and then he started to sell condensed milk and frozen vegetables. 

He was a smart man, and when the Perestroika hit, he made his fortune with his company, Gefest, that closed down in the 1990s. As we saw in our Litvinenko series, the Perestroika time was a prosperous and advantageous era for the Russian elite, having created many oligarchs through shady and often unscrupulous deals. 

Alexander Perepilichnyy in his youth in Soviet Russia

After that, in the mid-1990s, he made a move into real-estate and food distribution with the setting up of his Moscow-based business, Horus Group. 

In 2006, Mr Perepilichnyy sold his very profitable shares in the Russian natural gas company, Gazprom. 

According to bank documentation, he listed his profession as an ''industrialist'' and was worth over US$68 million, or about €59 million. 

According to his wife, Alexander was a quiet and ''humble'' man. He didn't like to socialise with people and did not have a need to be grandiose. Unlike other people with his wealth, he wasn't keen to show his status or in ''self-aggrandisement''. He was private and not interested in politics. He loved his family, and was dedicated to them. In recent months, he even lessened his workload to spend more time with them and be less stressed with the business. 

He was a tall man, clocking in at 185cms, with weight issues. At his heaviest, he weighed in at 108kg. Because of this, Alexander decided to go on a strict weight loss diet and running regime. He would go out to jog five times a week.  After some time, in July 2012, he lost an impressive 28 kilos. 

Alexander Perepilichnyy at his heaviest

Tatiana was a devoted mother and housewife. They did not discuss Alexander's business dealings, and often their conversations would centre around the children and their dog, Samuray. It seems that there was a lot of things Mrs Perepilichnaya didn't know. 

One of them was the fact that her husband was having an extramarital affair with a young and beautiful clothes designer in Paris. Elmira Medynska, says that she met Alexander Perepilichnyy on a dating site. They used to meet in Paris for dates, shopping and weekends spent in lavish hotels with fancy dinners at expensive restaurants. Originally from Ukraine, she moved to Paris to run her own fashion design business.  

Elmira Medynska, the Parisian lover

French police tracked her down as she was found to have been one of the few people to see Alexander alive. They checked out from the fancy Bristol Hotel in Paris on 10 November, and later that day, he collapsed and died.

The family was living at the prestigious housing community, St George's Hill, near Weybridge in Surrey. This is a private, gated community that has a golf and tennis club. The prices of the properties make it one of the most exclusive and expensive places in United Kingdom, and even the world. They were renting a home. They had a gardener, cleaner and driver, but no bodyguards as Mr Perepilichnyy didn't think he was in danger. 

The Perepilinchnyy home at St George's Hill 

THE EVENTS OF HIS DEATH

On 10 November, 2012, Alexander checked out of the Paris hotel room he shared with his lover and made his way back to London. Precisely, back to the 20,000£ per month rental home that he shared with his wife, Tatiana. He wasn't feeling well. His mistress said that the night before they went to eat dinner at a sushi restaurant, and Alexander said the food ''tasted funny'', so he sent it back. Arriving back to the hotel room afterwards, he was throwing up the whole night. As well before the dinner, he did not look or felt well. He was very worried and stressed and not ''with it''. 

Back in London, Alexander decided that he would go for a run to shake off this ill feeling after having a lunch prepared by his wife. He thought running a few laps around his gated community would put a spring in his step. He dressed in a red jogging suit and left. After running a few hundred meters from his home, he collapsed on Granville Road. 

A bird's eye view of St George's Hill 

Some local residents saw him, including his chef. They tried to administer first aid. Paramedics arrived on the scene soon after, but within 30 minutes, Alexander was pronounced dead. Police arrived, too. They stated to the press that his death was ''unexplained''. And it does beg the question, why did a 44-year-old, healthy man just drop dead with no reason? 

One official explanation, according to leading toxicologist, Professor Alastair Hay from University of Leeds, was that Mr Perepilichnyy simply had a heart attack. He over-exerted himself and this sometimes happens to men in mid-40s. If someone starts running, who is not used to being active, will work their heart too much and it will stop. 

The front gate of St George's Hill where Alexander collapsed 

But this does not take in account the fact that Alexander had been jogging five times a week for quite some time. He was now in a healthy weight range, and had recently lessened his stress load due to less work. His vitals were healthy, and nothing in his medical records suggested that he was prone to heart disease or even a heart attack. 

Toxicological tests were done, but nothing was found in his system. This is also why natural death seemed the most plausible theory. 

The other theory was, of course, being a Russian whistle-blower, he was murdered with poison. But what did Mr Perepilichny divulge and what kind of untraceable poison could have been used? 

In Part 2 of this mysterious death we will look into the secret dealings of Alexander Perepilichnyy and why his close associates think that he was murdered by the Kremlin. We will also look at how the Surrey Police bungled the investigation. 

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