Many deaths have never been resolved and are still listed as accidents and suicides.
Imprisoned Russian opposition figure and outspoken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny Russia’s prison service said he died on Friday in an Arctic Circle prison. But his death is just the latest in a long line of critics of Vladimir Putin who have been jailed, silenced or met brutal ends over the years. From plane crashes and accidental falls from windows to hangings, poisonings and health problems, many of the Russian president’s critics appear to be targeted in different ways. Many deaths have never been resolved and are still listed as accidents and suicides.
Here are some of the high-profile deaths involving people who have criticized Russia’s leaders over the years –
Yevgeny Prigozhin
The former head of the Wagner paramilitary group was once one of the country’s most powerful oligarchs and a member of Putin’s trusted inner circle. In 2023, the plane he was traveling in exploded in mid-air and he died at the age of 62. Notably, the unexplained explosion occurred two months after Mr. Prigozhin led a failed rebellion against the Russian Defense Ministry over disagreements with Moscow over the direction of the war in Ukraine.
In June 2023, he led a dramatic “March for Justice” in which armed men were seen heading to the Russian capital. The rebellion was abruptly halted as Putin remained silent. Mr. Prigozhin ordered his troops to lay down their weapons and then moved them to Belarus under the mediation of Russia-allied President Alexander Lukashenko. But two months later, Prigozhin fell from the sky when his plane from Moscow to St. Petersburg apparently exploded.
Critics of the Kremlin and Western countries suggested it was murder. However, the Kremlin denied any involvement in the downing of the plane.
Boris Nemtsov
Boris Nemtsov was an outspoken Kremlin critic who was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow in February 2015. ·Served as Deputy Prime Minister under President Boris Yeltsin.according to CNNDuring this period, he was arrested several times for speaking out against Putin’s government. When he was killed, he was helping organize a rally against Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, which began with the 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for so-called separatists in Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
Boris Berezovsky
Boris Berezovsky was once a powerful Russian businessman who fell out with the Kremlin and fled to Britain. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he amassed a fortune. Most of his wealth comes from the sale of luxury cars. But when he acquired Russian media, his wealth and political influence soared. After falling out of favor with Putin’s government, he moved to Britain.
In 2013, Mr Berezovsky was found dead on the bathroom floor of his British home with a noose around his neck. British police said at the time there were no signs of a struggle and suggested he had committed suicide.
Alexander Litvinenko
Mr Litvinenko was a former Russian spy who became a critic of the Kremlin. Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in 2006 by two Russian agents who spiked his green tea with highly radioactive polonium-210 in a London hotel bar, a British investigation has determined. CNN the report said. Litvinenko has also maintained that Putin and the Kremlin are responsible for his treatment.
But the Kremlin has always denied the accusation and refused to extradite the two agents accused of the poisoning to Britain.
Ravil Maganov
Lavel Maganov, chairman of the board of directors of Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, has died six months after publicly criticizing the war in Ukraine. He fell to his death from the window of a Moscow hospital.Russian state news agency TASS Claiming his death was a suicide.
Anna Politkovskaya
Ms Politkovskaya is an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Chechnya. In October 2006, she was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment. Her death attracted international attention and it was not until June 2014 that five men were sentenced for her murder, although it was not clear who ordered it.
But shortly after her death, Putin denied that the Kremlin was involved in her killing, saying Politkovskaya’s “death itself was more damaging to the current authorities in Russia and the Chechen Republic than her activities.”
Sergey Magnitsky
Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian tax consultant who exposed corruption, was detained without trial and died in prison seven days before his release. He was arrested in 2008 and died on November 16, 2009.
Alexander Perepirichny
Perepilichnyy is a financier who became a whistleblower in 2010 when he submitted documents to Swiss officials showing details of the theft of $230 million from Russian state treasury. After leaving Russia in 2009, he died while jogging near London in 2012. Although he was found to have died of likely natural causes, there were allegations that he was poisoned.
It is worth noting that in addition to the above-mentioned people, it is reported that at least 13 well-known Russian businessmen committed suicide or died mysteriously last year. CNN.
