Alexei Navalny, a jailed Russian opposition politician and outspoken Kremlin opponent, died Friday in an Arctic Circle jail, according to Russia’s prison service. However, his death is merely the most recent in a long line of Vladimir Putin critics who have been imprisoned, silenced, or murdered over the years. Many of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s detractors appear to have been targeted in a variety of ways, including plane crashes, accidental falls from windows, hangings, poisonings, and health difficulties. Many deaths are never explained and are classified as accidental or suicide.
Yevgeny Prigozhin
The former leader of the Wagner paramilitary squad was once one of Russia’s most powerful businessmen and a member of Vladimir Putin’s trusted inner circle. He died in 2023, aged 62 when the plane he was flying detonated in flight. Notably, the mysterious detonation occurred two months after Mr Prigozhin led a failed rebellion against Russia’s Ministry of Defense over disagreements about the direction of Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine. He led a dramatic “march for justice” where armed men were seen heading towards the Russian capital in June 2023. As Mr Putin remained silent, the mutiny was suddenly aborted. Mr Prigozhin ordered his troops to lay down their arms before they were relocated to Belarus under a deal brokered by that country’s Russia-allied president, Alexander Lukashenko. But two months later, Mr Prigozhin plummeted from the sky when the jet he was flying on from Moscow to St Petersburg exploded.
Boris Nemtsov
Critics of the Kremlin and Western governments suspected foul involvement. However, the Kremlin denied any participation in the downing of the plane. Boris Nemtsov, a vociferous Kremlin opponent who served as deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin in the late 1990s, was assassinated on a bridge near Moscow’s Kremlin in February 2015. According to CNN, he had been detained multiple times for speaking out against Vladimir Putin’s regime. He was slain while assisting in the organization of a rally against Russia’s military intervention into Ukraine, which began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and assistance for alleged separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas.
Boris Berezovsky
Boris Berezovsky was a powerful Russian billionaire who fled to England after falling out with the Kremlin. He had amassed his fortune following the fall of the Soviet Union. A substantial portion of his fortune came from the sale of luxury vehicles. His fortune and political influence, however, surged after he invested in Russian media. He moved to Britain after falling out of favour with Mr Putin’s government. Mr Berezovsky was discovered dead on the toilet floor of his house in the United Kingdom in 2013, with a noose around his neck. British police claimed there was no evidence of struggle and suggested he committed suicide.
Alexander Litvinenko
Mr Litvinenko was a former Russian agent and Kremlin critic. According to CNN, a British inquiry revealed that Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned at a London hotel bar in 2006 by two Russian agents who contaminated his green tea with highly radioactive polonium-210. Mr Litvinenko has also consistently claimed that Mr Putin and the Kremlin were to blame for what happened to him. However, the Kremlin has consistently disputed the accusation and has refused to extradite the two operatives accused of the poisoning to Britain.
Ravil Maganov
Ravil Maganov, the chairman of the board of Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, died six months after openly criticizing the conflict in Ukraine. He died after falling from the window of a Moscow hospital. Tass, the Russian national news service, said that he died by suicide.
Anna Politkovskaya
Ms Politkovskaya was a vocal critic of Russia’s war in Chechnya. She was gunned down at the entrance of her Moscow apartment in October 2006. Her death garnered international attention and it wasn’t until June 2014 that five men were sentenced for the killing, but it remains unclear who ordered the murder. But shortly after her death, Mr Putin denied any Kremlin involvement in her killing, saying that Ms Politkovskaya’s “death in itself is more damaging to the current authorities both in Russia and the Chechen Republic … than her activities”.
Sergei Magnitsky
Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax adviser who exposed corruption, was detained without a trial and died in prison just seven days before he was set to be released. He was arrested in 2008 and died on 16 November 2009.
Alexander Perepilichnyy
Mr Perepilichnyy, a financier, became a whistleblower in 2010 when he handed over paperwork to Swiss officials detailing the $230 million theft of monies from the Russian budget. He died during a jog near London in 2012, after fleeing Russia in 2009. While he was confirmed to have died of natural causes, there are claims that he was poisoned. Aside from those mentioned above, at least 13 high-profile Russian businessmen have apparently died by suicide or in suspicious circumstances in the last year, according to CNN.