Belgian businessman dies in mysterious circumstances in Moscow

Belgian businessman dies in mysterious circumstances in Moscow

A Belgian businessman working for a Russian company has been found dead in Moscow after apparently falling from his ninth-floor apartment. Russian police are not treating the death as suspicious, but an investigation is underway into the exact circumstances.

Bruno Charles De Cooman was working as the vice president of research and development for the Russian steel company NLMK. Born in Waterloo, he had taught in the university of Ghent and in South Korea, as well as working in industry.

According to the TASS news agency, Moscow police said the injuries were consistent with a fall from a great height. Police told the agency there were no signs of a struggle inside the apartment to suggest he may have been pushed.

De Cooman was appointed to his post a year ago. NLMK is one of Russia’s four largest steel companies, producing one-fifth of all the country’s steel. It also owns a steel plate factor in Clabecsq in Wallonia. The group is owned by oligarch Vladimir Lissine, one of the richest men in the country, and employs 2,500 people across Europe, 1,000 of them in Belgium.

The company paid tribute to De Cooman on its website: “His death is an enormous loss to the group and to the whole sector, his friends and family,” the statement said. “He made a valuable contribution to innovation in the development of steel production.”

Alan Hope
The Brussels Times


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