Eusebio R. Sheffield 
MADRID (AP) — Police in northeastern Spain said on Friday they were treating the murder of a Russian woman and her daughter this week as a case of domestic violence and that the husband, a former top official Russian gas who was also found dead, is the prime suspect.
A spokeswoman for the Girona regional police said investigators had ruled the killings were not linked to any criminal gang act or similar case this week in Moscow.
Police on Tuesday found the bodies of two Russian women – a 53-year-old mother and an 18-year-old daughter – stabbed in bed at their home in the popular tourist town of Lloret de Mar, just north of Barcelona. The husband, who was named Sergei Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in the patio.
Spanish news agency Efe said police also found a bloodstained knife and a hatchet in the house.
Protsenya, who Spanish media said was very wealthy, was a former senior executive at Novatek, a major natural gas producer in Russia.
On April 18, Russian state news agency Tass reported that Vladislav Avayev, former vice president of Gazprombank, along with his wife and daughter were found dead in their apartment in Moscow. He cited an unnamed source who allegedly told Tass that Avayev shot his wife and daughter and then killed himself.
Novatek released a statement on Thursday, expressing condolences to “all those affected by this tragic situation.” The statement referred to Protosenya as a former member of the company’s board of directors and described him as “an exceptional person and a wonderful family man” who has contributed to the development of the company.
“Unfortunately, speculation has emerged in the media about this, but we are convinced that this speculation has no relation to reality. We hope that the Spanish law enforcement authorities will carry out a thorough and impartial investigation to determine what happened. past,” Novatek said.
The Spanish police spokeswoman, who was not authorized to be named in the media, said police attended the Lloret de Mar home after the family’s son in France went worried about not being able to reach the family.
The family owned the house in Lloret de Mar and often stayed there, but it was not immediately clear whether they also resided elsewhere.
The town hall observed a minute of silence on Wednesday in honor of the victims.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez tweeted his condolences to the family on Wednesday. “A man kills his wife and daughter in Girona,” he wrote. “Two lives struck down by a structural problem that must be eradicated: machismo.”
Equalities Minister Irene Montero also condemned the killings. Authorities say 12 women have been killed so far this year in domestic violence in Spain and 1,138 since 2003 when these records began.
Girona police said the police report on the case should be completed soon and the case handed over to a court in the town of Blanes.
