Anatoly Gerashchenko, the Moscow Aviation Institute's former director, died in an accident Wednesday, the latest in a string of accidental or untimely deaths of top Russian figures, according to news reports.

Gerashchenko, 72 and a former ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reportedly fell down "a great height" of stairs, a source told Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Just 10 days ago, the body of Russian businessman Ivan Pechorin washed up more than 100 miles from where he had drowned in Vladivostok.

Pechorin was the managing director responsible for aviation at the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic. His company earlier this year spoke against Russia's war in Ukraine, calling for sympathy for the victims, according to CNN.

Ravil Maganov, the chairman for Lukoil, Russia's largest privately owned oil and gas company, died on Sept. 1 after falling out of the window of a hospital in Moscow.

Alexander Subbotin, a former executive for Lukoil, was found dead in May of an apparent heart attack. Sergei Protosenya, a Russian oligarch and former deputy chairman of the gas company Novatek, was found dead by hanging in April. His wife and daughter were found at the scene stabbed to death.

Former Gazprom vice president Vladislav Ayayev was found dead in his Moscow home in the same month alongside his wife and daughter.

Gerashchenko is at least the 10^th influential Russian to die by suicide or unexplained accidents since late January. At least six were associated with Russia's two largest energy companies, reports CNN.

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