What the defenestration of Ravil Maganov says about Russia

In my travels when I was still persona grata in Russia, I never got the sense that their windows were unduly flimsy or inviting. Nonetheless, the tally of Russians and Russian-connected individuals who have met their end by jumping or falling out of windows is such that it has become a rather tacky and tasteless meme.

Most recently, Ravil Maganov, chair of the Lukoil conglomerate died after falling out of a window in Moscow on Thursday. This follows on the heels of the death in Washington DC of Dan Rapoport, an American businessman who used to be active in Russia before leaving and becoming a critic of the regime. He apparently jumped from an apartment building in Georgetown.

Beyond this, there has been a spate of suicides and deaths among senior Russian businesspeople of late, like the apparent murder-suicide on the Costa Brava, where according to the Spanish police, a former manager from liquefied natural gas producer Novatek killed his wife and daughter and then himself.