On February 16, it was reported that Alexei Navalny, Putin's most feared Russian, had died. He was confined in a "punishment cell" in prison IK-3 in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the Arctic Circle, despite his poor health. There is no one to take seriously the authorities' announcement as to the cause of his death. It goes without saying that the state bears responsibility for the deaths that result from arrest and detention based on laws that violate human rights.
Navalny pushed Putin to the brink during anti-government demonstrations over rigged elections in Russia's 2011 lower house of parliament. The "Arab Spring," a storm that brought down authoritarianism one after another, was raging around the world. Navalny exposed irregularities in the Russian government's overseas real estate transactions, sparked suspicions of election fraud, and rose to become the leader of the largest anti-government movement since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Around the time of the 2012 presidential election, authorities increasingly interfered with Navalny, and he was frequently detained. Putin, who suppressed the demonstrations and returned to the presidency, shed tears of relief in front of his supporters. It was also during this period that the Siloviki (Authority organs), the "dark enforcers" of the Putin regime, became serious about eliminating Navalny.
Navalny once again attracted the attention of the world in the summer of 2020, when he suffered a toxic reaction while traveling on a passenger plane and was eventually flown to Germany. It turns out that the nerve agent Novichok was used, and the British investigative news organization Bellingcat has identified an FSB assassination squad. In the film "Navalny," which was later released as a documentary, he said the following.
"They decided to kill me because we are incredibly strong."
The following year, in January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia, prepared for his imprisonment. He could have chosen to stay and resist in Germany. I think it's because of his pride that he doesn't do that. Dissidents who once defected from the Soviet Union to the West were met with cold stares when they returned after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Navalny has another side, as a far-right nationalist in a past.
His supporters believe that "Russia without Putin is beautiful." This is different from the journalists and human rights activists who were similarly exterminated, and who deepened their despair toward Russia while pursuing the dark side of Putin's politics. Navalny, a charismatic figure, stirred up outrage by exposing Putin's corrupt greed. That was what Putin feared most.
The presidential election will be held one month later on March 17th. Although Putin is certain to win his fifth term in office, voters are bound to be skeptical due to the protracted war in Ukraine. Putin has political enemies such as, Navalny's ally Ilya Yashin (to be imprisoned in 2022), activist Andrei Pivovarov (to be imprisoned in 2022), and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza (to be imprisoned in 2023), and he won't be able to escape Navalny's spell.
The sudden deaths of dissidents and government officials under Putin's regime are called "Russian sudden death syndrome." Even if an assassination is suspected, the authorities dismiss it as a heart attack or an accident. This word, which the authorities used as a deception, is now a metaphor for "assassination" in Russia's social media underground. The main list of such Russian is as follows.
Alexei Navalny, opposition leader, died under suspicious circumstances in an Arctic prison in 2.2024, age47
Maxim Borodin, journalist, died from a fall in Yekaterinburg in 4.2018, age32
Boris Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister, assassinated in Moscow in 2.2015, age55
Sergei Magnitsky, lawyer, died under suspicious circumstances in a Moscow prison in 11.2009, age37
Natalya Estemirova, human rights activist, assassinated in the Caucasus in 7.2009, age50
Alexander Litvinenko, former FSB lieutenant colonel, assassinated in London in 11.2006, age44
Anna Politkovskaya, journalist, assassinated in Moscow in 1.2006, age48
Since the transition to a wartime regime, suspicious deaths have occurred one after another among executives of oligarchs and government officials who support Putin. These include people who criticized the war, companies whose businesses suffered due to sanctions on Russia, and people who handled war funds. The main characters are as follows.
Evgeny Prigozhin, private military company manager, died in 8.2023 in a plane crash
Pyotr Kucherenko, government official; war critic, died under suspicious circumstances on a plane in 5 2023
Marina Yankina, High-ranking Ministry of Defense Finance Officer, died from a fall in St. Petersburg in 2.2023
Pavel Antov, oligarch; war critic, died from a fall in a hotel in India in 12.2022
Dmitry Zelenov, oligarch; real estate tycoon, died from a fall in France in 12. 2022
Vadim Boyko, war mobilization officer, died under suspicious circumstances in Vladivostok in 11.2022
Roman Malik, war mobilization officer, died under suspicious circumstances in 10.2022
Rabil Maganov, Lukoil chairman; war critic, died from a fall in a hospital in Moscow in 9.2022
Vladimir Sungorkin, journalist, died in Khabarovsk in 9.2022
Anatoly Gerashchenko, scientist, died from a fall in Moscow in 9.2022
Pavel Pchernikov, oligarch; railway manager, died under suspicious circumstances in Moscow in 9.2022
Ivan Pechorin, Far Eastern Development Corporation executive, drowned in Vladivostok in 9.2022
Yuri Voronov, Gazprom executive, assassinated in 7.2022
Andrei Kurkovski, Gazprom executive, died from a fall in Sochi in 5.2022
Alexander Subbotin, Lukoil executive, died under suspicious circumstances in Moscow in 5.2022
Vladislav Abayev, Gazprom Bank executive, died under suspicious circumstances in Moscow in 4. 2022
Sergei Protosenya, Oligarch Novatek executive, died under suspicious circumstances in Spain in 4.2022
Vasily Melnikov, oligarch, died under suspicious circumstances in Nizhny Novgorod in 3.2022
Andrei Bochkov, scientist; coronavirus vaccine developer, killed in Moscow in 3.2022
Sergei Grishin, oligarch; war critic, died under suspicious circumstances in Moscow in 3.2022
Igor Nosov, oligarch, died in Moscow in 2.2022
Alexander Chuakov, Gazprom executive, died under suspicious circumstances in St. Petersburg in 2.2022
Leonid Shulman, Gazprom executive, died under suspicious circumstances in Leningrad Oblast in 1.2022
Sergei Maksimishin, the doctor who first treated Navalny, died suddenly in Siberia in 2.2021