The ex-wife of ex-member of the board of directors of Alfa-Bank Galitsky died in a temporary detention center after being arrested on suspicion of extortion

The ex-wife of investor and ex-member of the board of directors of Alfa Bank Alexander Galitsky, Aliya, died in the Istra temporary detention center shortly before she was supposed to be transferred to a pre-trial detention center. The day before she was arrested on suspicion of extortion from her ex-husband. According to the official version, the woman committed suicide. RBC reports this.

Human rights activist Eva Merkacheva published some details of the incident on her Telegram channel:

“Galitskaya was alone in the cell. She left a note in which she blames her ex-husband, a powerful and wealthy man (with all that it entails) for what happened,” Merkacheva wrote.

Galitskaya was sent into custody on February 6. She was supposed to be in pre-trial detention until at least April 3. She is suspected of extortion (clause “b”, part 3, article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the prosecution, she threatened her ex-husband to spread some defamatory information, demanding $150 million from him in exchange for silence.

The Galitskys divorced in March 2025. They have two daughters, born in 2013 and 2017, both of whom are US citizens. After the divorce, a court in California determined the place of residence with their mother - they lived in the village of Zelenovka near Istra (Aliya was registered there). At the end of May, the father took his daughters from school and took her to an unknown destination; she was never able to reunite with them; they are abroad. Neither Russian nor American law enforcement agencies responded to her statements. According to the Telegram channel “112”, back in 2023, Aliya Galitskaya was looking for a support group that would help her get through a divorce.

In October 2025, the court arrested Galitsky’s property for 435 million rubles as part of a property division case. Galitsky was a member of the board of directors of Alfa-Bank until March 2022 and left after the introduction of European sanctions against the company. Galitsky is also the founder of the Almaz Capital venture fund and the ELVIS+ company.