Opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to disappear in a pattern of bizarre sudden deaths, with the country’s top rival Alexei Navalny also suddenly collapsing and dying, Russian authorities said.
“As a culture, Russians generally do not believe in coincidence. However, in this particular case, although it is unlikely that we will ultimately determine how Mr. Navalny died, many analysts believe that Russia’s There’s a reason intelligence agencies agree that they were likely behind his death,” said Rebecca, strategic military intelligence analyst and author of “Putin’s Playbook.” Koffler told FOX News Digital.
“There are certain intelligence services dating back to 1920 that the Soviet Union used to eliminate so-called enemies of the state,” Koffler said. “The Soviet Union, and now Russia, are masters at covering their tracks and making assassinations appear natural or accidental.
“False accusations implying the spillage of blood are a doctrine of targeted assassination, including poisoning, execution by gunshot to the back of the head, forced suicide, such as by throwing oneself out of a window, and the detonation of hidden small bombs. “This includes putting it in a box of chocolates…and other artificial methods,” Koffler explained.
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People who died mysteriously under Vladimir Putin’s regime. (Getty Images/East 2 West/Fox News Digital)
Mr. Koffler argues that Mr. Putin is not afraid of the death of dissidents, whether they are direct rivals like Mr. Navalny or allies who challenge his authority, such as Wagner’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. He did not hesitate to show that the incident happened on Putin’s orders, saying, “Putin said his agents were behind the operation.”
“He is sending us subtle signals that are easily detected by people who understand who Putin is and who know the characteristic tactics of Russian intelligence,” Koffler said. ” he said. “For example, then [GRU officer] When Sergei Skripal was poisoned, President Putin said in an interview with the Financial Times in June 2019 that “treason is the greatest crime on earth and traitors must be punished.”
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“In 2010, in response to a question about whether he had ever had to sign an order to “wipe out enemies of the Fatherland abroad,” President Putin said, “The traitors will receive whatever they get in return.” , they would kick the bucket themselves.”The 30 pieces of silver given to them would choke them,” she added.
Mr Navalny collapsed in prison last week, with prison officials claiming he suffered from “sudden death syndrome”, but an anonymous paramedic who claimed to work at the morgue told independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta. He told Europa that the body had bruising consistent with sudden death. A person being held down during a seizure.
Prigozhin and Navalny, whose plane suddenly exploded killing them and all on board, are two of the most high-profile examples of sudden deaths of Putin’s opponents, but many others have occurred during Putin’s reign. ing.
On August 23, 2023, the scene after a private jet carrying Wagner representative Evgeny Prigozhin and others crashed in the Tver region of northwestern Russia. (Wagner Telegram Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
His other main domestic rival, Boris Nemtsov, died in 2015 just before an opposition rally. Nemtsov was crossing a bridge on the outskirts of the Kremlin when gunmen fired four shots from a passing car. President Putin expressed his condolences and called the death a “provocation” before ordering authorities to investigate.
Although authorities eventually arrested five men for Nemtsov’s murder and ultimately sentenced them to 11 and 20 years in prison, the Russian government consistently classifies Nemtsov’s death as a political assassination. I have refused to do so.
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Russian-American journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya was shot to death in the elevator of her Moscow apartment in 2006. She regularly criticized the Kremlin, especially regarding its policies related to Chechnya. The investigation into her death failed to determine who ordered her murder, and investigators dismissed the involvement of Moscow-backed Ramzan Kadyrov, who eventually seized power as head of the Chechen Republic.
Kadyrov also denied any involvement in the death of Natalia Estemirova, a journalist who was kidnapped and murdered outside her Grozny home in 2008. Chechnya restored federal rule in Russia in 2009 and remains a staunch ally of Russia, supporting President Putin’s war against Ukraine and providing troops.
People gather at a memorial to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the Monument to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg on February 16, 2024. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)
Recently, a number of prominent Russian businessmen died in a series of bizarre accidents after they spoke out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including Rabil Maganov, chairman of oil giant Lukoil, falling from a hospital window. . Lukuil said Maganov died from an illness, but Russian media and investigators determined that Maganov had fallen from a sixth-floor window.
Local politician Pavel Antov, known as Russia’s “Sausage King,” also fell out of a window at the end of 2022. Authorities found him dead outside the Hotel Sai International in Rayagada, India, where he had celebrated his 65th birthday just a few days earlier. One of Antov’s companions also died at the hotel.
At least eight Russian oligarchs died in bizarre circumstances during the first year of the invasion, and international investigators have linked these deaths to opposition to the invasion and corruption at Russian gas company Gazprom. He suggested that he may have committed suicide or was assassinated in retaliation.
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Koffler explained to Fox News Digital that when intelligence killings are carried out, they are always “intentionally designed to be stealth so that investigators cannot identify any wrongdoing.”
“They are usually considered ‘tragic accidents’, but [which is] That is also part of the doctrine,” she added.
