Yevgeny Prigozhin is just the latest in a long and murky list. Since Vladimir Putin began serving as prime minister of Russia in 1999, there have been several instances in which important opponents or enemies of the Kremlin were attacked or died in strange circumstances.
There have been so many poisonings, strange accidents, suicides and murders carried out against people uncomfortable with the regime. Even Wikipedia created a list of the suspicious deaths that have occurred since 2022. However, the number of names increased just by looking back to a few years earlier, when Putin began to rule Russia as prime minister.
Alexei Navalny
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in the prison to which he was banished inside the Arctic Circle on February 16. Regarded as the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin in the last decade, Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence.
Vladimir Golovlev
A deputy from the Liberal Russia party was fatally shot in 2002 in the middle of a Moscow street while calmly walking his dog.
Valentin Tsvetkov
The governor of Magadan was also killed in 2002 by a gunshot to the head on one of Moscow's most touristy and commercial streets.
Yuri Shchekochijin
One of Russia's most prominent human rights defenders died suddenly in 2003, believed to have been poisoned with thallium.
Sergei Yuchenkov
A liberal opposition member of Parliament was shot several times and died in 2003.
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
In 2004, the president of the Chechen rebels in exile died in a car bombing. Years later, it was discovered that several Russian Central Intelligence Department agents were behind the murder, but it was never clear if Putin was involved.
Alexander Litvinenko
The former Russian Federal Security Service agent and regime defector died in late 2006 from a rare illness. He developed symptoms after meeting two former Russian agents. A decade later, a British investigation determined that the Russian regime was behind his murder.
Anna Politkovskaya
A journalist who exposed several abuses and violations of human rights by the regime was shot dead in her apartment in 2006.
Anastasia Baburova and Stanislav Markelov
In 2009, Markelov, a human rights lawyer, and journalist Anastasia Baburova were both killed by a masked hitman.
Natalya Estemirova
A few months later, Russian human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was kidnapped and murdered.
Boris Berezovsky
The powerful businessman accused the Kremlin of killing a former KGB agent who had escaped to Britain to avoid reprisals. He was found dead with a noose around his neck, and authorities were unable to determine if it was a suicide or a murder.
Boris Nemtsov
The former deputy prime minister and Kremlin critic was shot dead in 2015 while walking across a Moscow bridge.
More oligarchs attacked
A large number of opposition oligarchs have also fallen foul of suspicious encounters with poison.
Alexander Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza (both critics of the Kremlin) were sentenced to prison, and both alleged they were poisoned.
Pyotr Versilov, who conducted investigations into the murders of Russian journalists, also had strange symptoms that led him to see German doctors who determined he had been poisoned.
The Wikipedia list
Since Russia began its war against Ukraine, a list of Russian oligarchs and business people who have also died in under peculiar conditions has come to light, which includes Leonid Shulman, Alexander Tyulyakov, Mikhail Watford, Vasily Melnikov, Sergey Protosenya and Alexander Subbotin, among others.
The list of "2022 Russian businessmen mystery deaths" has a new entry as of today.
What a wikipedia page to curate. pic.twitter.com/5sctpM8ywG
— Cornelius Hirsch (@VollCornHirsch) September 21, 2022
