Rather, he said the deaths demonstrate President Putin’s desperation to maintain control of one of the most lucrative sectors in the Russian economy — the oil and gas industry.
“Vladimir Putin has been kneecapped by the sanctions,” he said.
“He’s the richest man in the world and he holds his money via these individuals called the Russian oligarchs, who have all been sanctioned.
“The only money that hasn’t really been sanctioned has been the revenues from the oil and gas industry, and he needs more money now to run his war.”
Mr Browder said they would be under pressure to provide some of that money to the Kremlin, and used the example of the chairman of Lukoil, Ravil Maganov, who was found dead on September 1.
“These people all sit in front of large cash flows or assets,” he said.
“I would suspect that this guy said “no” and then the best way of getting that flow of cash is to kill him and then ask his replacement the same question.
“I would suspect that Putin gets a cut of whatever redirected flows of money are resulting from these murders.”
Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 