Decapitated body of salt mining company CEO found in Russia’s Kaliningrad region

The decapitated body of a salt mining company CEO has been found under a bridge in Russia’s far-western Kaliningrad exclave, state media reports.

According to law enforcement sources who spoke to RIA Novosti, the body was discovered near the village of Solnechnoye “with a tow rope attached to it.”

The Telegram channel Shot, which maintains close ties to Russian law enforcement, reported that the victim’s name was Alexey S. and that he headed the company K-Potash Service.

The regional branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee told RBC it is looking into the circumstances of the man’s death.

K-Potash Service was registered as a business in the village of Nivenskoye in the Kaliningrad region in 2013. Since 2022, its CEO has been listed in government records as Alexey Sinitsyn. According to Russia’s Unified Public Register of Legal Entities, the company’s founders are the Dutch firm Vyrex B.V. and Cyprus-based Openlane LTD, RBC reports.

Since 2014, the company has been working on a project to build a mine for potash and magnesium salt extraction, along with a processing plant. Residents of Nivenskoye opposed the project, citing environmental concerns. In 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin intervened in the situation, and the mining facility was relocated outside of the village.

According to an October 2022 ruling by the Kaliningrad Regional Arbitration Court, the company was in “serious financial difficulty.”