An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been found dead alongside members of his family in his multi-million dollar apartment in Moscow.
The body of former Kremlin official and Gazprombank vice-president Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found alongside his pregnant wife Yelena, 47, and younger daughter Maria, 13.
The bodies - all found with gunshot wounds - were discovered by the family's adult daughter when she entered the apartment after she couldn't get hold of them.
How the incident unfolded is yet to be determined by police but investigators said they are keeping an open mind to the 14th-floor massacre, carried out "with Avayev's pistol".
Avayev's adult daughter Anastasia told police the gun had been in her father's hand when she found his body, reports said.
Anastasia said 13 weapons were found in the apartment, which had been locked from the inside.
Avayev was previously employed at Gazprombank, which is a key part of Putin's gas-for-roubles scheme to hit back at Western sanctions.
A neighbour said Avayev was a "smart man, almost the head of Gazprombank. I had seen him - he did not look like a maniac."
"He was a nerd. He had no reason to do that. He was rich, smart. There's no way a man like that could kill."
The neighbour suggested that Avayev and his family were killed.
"So what does that mean? A man with a gun broke into our house, and no one stopped him? How are we supposed to sleep now?"
Kristina, a neighbour to Avayev's apartment said she heard "three shots and shouting".
"A woman was screaming. Then two more shots were fired. No one else was screaming.
"I looked out the window - I thought it was fireworks. It turned out they weren't, my mother told me it was definitely gunshots."
Another neighbour added: "Perhaps this was because of the sanctions - everyone is depressed, some are willing to go to extreme measures".
She said Avayev's business may have been affected after sanctions were placed on Russia and the economic downturn.
"They possibly put him in debt and he decided to shoot himself," she said.
