2nd high-profile Russian businessman dies in the space of 48 hours as tech tycoon found dead from 'medical gas,' report says

• Russian tech tycoon Anton Cherepennikov, 40, was found dead in his Moscow office, per local reports.
• He was subject to US sanctions and his company helped Putin expand domestic-surveillance operations.

A Russian tech tycoon who helped President Vladimir Putin expand Russia's domestic-surveillance operations was found dead in his Moscow office, local media reports say.

Anton Cherepennikov, 40, the founder of Russian IT company ICS Holding, was found dead on July 22, his company said, according to the Russian outlet RBC.

His company said that the preliminary cause of death was cardiac arrest, per RBC.

However, a Moscow law enforcement source said that the businessman overdosed on "medical gas," according to Russian channel RTVI, The Times of London reported.

"Cherepennikov took the drug for medicinal purposes, but presumably exceeded the allowable dose," the source reportedly said, adding that the cause of death was still under investigation.

The source also claimed that three guests visited Cherepennikov while he was in his office the night before his death.

Cherepennikov had been sanctioned by the US, with authorities saying that one of his companies, named Citadel — a part of ICS Holding — was responsible for developing software to steal financial and personal data from computer networks, per Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Citadel helped Putin implement Russia's infamous Yarovaya laws, a controversial set of anti-terrorism measures passed in 2016, which expanded surveillance powers and increased data collection and storage within Russia, per The Times.

ICS Holding, which reportedly has ties to Russia's security services, benefited financially after the laws came into force in 2018, according to independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

The company had consolidated revenue of 91 billion rubles, or around $1 billion, in 2022, according RBC.

Cherepennikov is the latest in a series of Russian oligarchs and tycoons to have died in mysterious circumstances since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Igor Kudryakov, another high-profile Russian businessman, was also found dead in his Moscow apartment on Friday, The Times reported.