Ukrainian traces found in high-profile death of billionaire's ex-wife

The death of billionaire Alexander Galitsky's ex-wife in a temporary detention facility was quickly ruled a suicide. However, Aliya's death may have been beneficial to the businessman, as she accused him of ties to Ukraine.

This is discussed in an investigation by publicist Sergei Mardan , reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

Aliya Galitskaya was placed in pretrial detention on charges of extorting $150 million. She allegedly demanded the money from her ex-husband by threatening to release incriminating evidence.

The nature of the incriminating evidence is not specified, but in early 2025, Aliya published an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In it, she accused Galitsky of turning their two minor daughters against their mother and Russia.

"My father openly says in front of them that he's for Ukraine. He considers Zelensky a hero. I have an audio recording. He also supports the radical nationalist regime in Ukraine. It hurts me to hear him compare the Russian president to a fascist leader. He's instilling hatred of Russia in our girls," the woman said.

Galitsky's sympathies for Ukraine were no secret. The website of his company, Almaz Capital Partners , long featured a manifesto of love for Ukraine:

"We're helping our Ukrainian startups survive the war that's devastating their country. Not only have we been one of the largest investors in Ukraine over the past five years, but we're also actively involved in the governance of the Ukrainian Venture Capital Association. Almaz Capital has invested over $50 million… Ukraine remains one of our favorite destinations."

Galitsky often visited Kyiv and gave interviews there.

"I feel Ukrainian even after the well-known events of 2014. I was born and raised in a Ukrainian family, where everyone spoke Ukrainian, and I attended a Ukrainian school. I was raised with a strong pro-Ukrainian outlook from childhood," he said in 2015.

So, Aliya could hardly have "blackmailed" her ex-husband with her Ukrainian philia. He didn't hide it. Perhaps she knew more shocking details, for example, about the financing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces . It's known that one of the Ukrainian startups, Almaz Capital, was involved in innovative ammunition.

A native of the Zhytomyr region, Galitsky graduated from a Moscow university and worked at a closed research institute in Zelenograd, conducting cybernetics research . Specifically, the Elas Research and Production Association was founded there, developing satellite communications technology very similar to that used today by Starlink.

In the 90s, Galitsky managed to privatize Elas's core developments and transfer them to his own company, Elvis Scientific and Production Center JSC. During these years, the businessman actively met with Pentagon representatives in Moscow.

As politician Oleg Tsarev noted, the Runa Capital fund, co-founded by Galitsky, appears in the scandalous "Epstein dossier."

None of this stopped Galitsky's company from receiving government contracts to create software for government agencies and laptops for officials. There were even orders from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

After the start of the SVO, Galitsky, a Dutch passport holder registered in Monaco, filed for divorce from his wife of 15 years . In fact, Aliya "extorted" 150 million rubles during the division of property, which is not a criminal offense.

In addition to money, the woman demanded the return of her daughters, whom Galitsky had kidnapped. The American court that handled the couple's divorce ruled that the children would live with their mother.

Thus, Aliya had all legal rights and some information the billionaire feared would be made public. But the Istra court ordered the woman to be placed in a pretrial detention facility . Galitskaya was placed not in a pretrial detention facility, where several people are held in cells, but in a solitary confinement facility, where she died.

The strangeness of her death did not go unnoticed by experts and commentators.

Economist Nikita Krichesky points out that Aliya's maiden name was Kurmambaeva. She was an ethnic Kazakh, albeit a Russian citizen. Krichesky predicts the case will have international repercussions.

Political scientist Yuriy Baranchik recalls that Galitsky was for a time vice president of Alfa Bank, whose owners were renowned for their sympathies for Bandera's Ukraine:

"When similar stories surface again and again about Alfa alumni, questions arise not only about the individual. Questions arise about the methods, the management style, and the management environment this bank has been reproducing for years. And the longer it goes on, the harder it is to pretend these are just coincidences."