Vladimir Putin’s Speculated “Hit List” of Critics and Enemies

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long been shadowed by rumors of orchestrating the assassinations of his critics and adversaries. But, the sudden death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a recent plane crash has only intensified these suspicions.

Was Putin involved? As a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Union’s KGB and ex-chief of the Federal Security Service, Putin has been linked to a series of alleged assassinations, as reported by Insider.

Was Putin involved? As a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Union’s KGB and ex-chief of the Federal Security Service, Putin has been linked to a series of alleged assassinations, as reported by Insider:

• Yevgeny Prigozhin: On Wednesday, Russian state media TASS reported that the exiled Wagner Group financier and failed coup leader died in a plane crash. Prigozhin’s uncertain fate follows a turbulent period. He gained notoriety for criticizing military leadership over the war in Ukraine, accusing the Kremlin of misappropriating Wagner troops, and leading a failed coup in June. After his exile to Belarus, Prigozhin’s whereabouts and safety remained unclear. He met Putin shortly after the mutiny and attended an African leaders’ summit weeks later.
• Pavel Antov: Russian tycoon who fell from Indian hotel window in December 2022, after his 65th birthday. He also criticized Putin’s war on WhatsApp, later retracting his comments.
• Ravil Maganov: Lukoil’s chair Maganov openly criticized Russia’s Ukraine invasion, called for conflict end. He fell from Moscow hospital window, per CNBC. Lukoil’s statement: death due to illness, now removed.
• Dan Rapoport: The businessman condemned Russia-Ukraine war on social media, supporting Ukraine, per Daily Beast. He was found dead in D.C. apartment area in August of 2022. A Florida license, $2500, a black hat and orange flip-flops were present when police found him.
• Mikhail Lesin: Russian press minister was found dead in D.C. hotel room in November 2015 from head trauma. The founder of Russia Today planned FBI deal for corruption charges. He was very influential in Russian politics and had tons of information on the elitist class.
• Boris Nemtsov: Boris Nemtsov, ex-deputy Prime Minister under Boris Yeltsin, criticized Putin as oligarchs’ ally. He was fatally shot near Kremlin in 2015 walking home from a restaurant.
• Boris Berezovsky: The Russian oligarch was exiled after a rift with Putin and died in his UK home in March 2013 in what was apparently a suicide. He was found with a ligature around his neck in a locked bathroom. UK police probed assassination claims.
• Natalia Estemirova: The journalist exposed the Russian state on the abuses in Chechnya. She was kidnapped in 2009 near home and found shot in the head woods. Her murder remained unsolved.
• Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova: The human rights lawyer represented multiple journalists who had been critical of Putin. He was shot by a masked gunman near the Kremlin in 2009. Baburova was walking with him and was shot when attempting to help him.
• Alexander Litvinenko: A KGB agent who died three weeks after drinking a cup of tea laced with deadly polonium-210 in 2006 at a London hotel. UK inquiries suggest found that he was poisoned by FSB’s Lugovoi and Kovtun, likely ordered by Patrushev and Putin. Litvinenko accused Putin of crimes, including Politkovskaya’s murder.
• Anna Politkovskaya: The journalist was a Putin critic. She was killed in 2006 by contract killers in her building’s elevator. The five men convicted told the judge it was a $150,000 contract hit, paid by unknown person.
• Paul Klebnikov: The editor in chief of the Russian edition of Forbes, wrote about corruption, digging into the personal lives of wealthy and powerful Russians. He was killed in 2004 in a drive-by shooting in an apparent contract killing.
• Sergei Yushenkov: The Russian politician who was attempting to prove the Russian state was behind the bombing of an apartment block was killed in 2003 in an assassination from a single shot in the chest. This was done just hours after his political organization was recognized by the Justice Ministry as a party.