The Russian aviation agency and the local media confirmed this Wednesday (23) that Yevgeny Prigozhin and his number 2 in the Wagner mercenary group, Dmitry Utkin, were among the passengers of the executive jet manufactured by Embraer that crashed in the region of Tver, north of Russia, killing everyone in it.
Prigozhin was the leader of the paramilitary group that rebelled against the Kremlin in June this year, claiming that Vladimir Putin’s government forces had attacked a militia camp. Earlier, he had criticized the mistakes of the Russian military command in Ukraine.
Prighozin’s death adds to several others of Russian citizens that occurred mysteriously, inside and outside the country. Although there is currently no evidence linking the Russian president to the downing of the aircraft, the leader of the Wagner Group and its top commander died exactly two months after the paramilitary rebellion.
Most of those who mysteriously lost their lives in Russia in recent months were people close to the government who dared to criticize the Russian president at some point or failed to carry out tasks.
Below, we present a list containing the names of some of these people, who, like Prigozhin, had a certain proximity to the Kremlin and died in suspicious circumstances.
Leonid Shulman
Shulman was the CEO of Gazprom, the state-owned Russian gas giant. Officially, his death, which occurred in January 2022, would have been a suicide. Shulman was found in his bathroom with a suicide note next to his body. Information about his case shows that he was allegedly involved in a corruption scheme at the state-owned company.
Alexander Tyulyakov
Another Gazprom executive who died in an apparent suicide, in February 2022, the day after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Like Shulman, Tyulyakov was allegedly involved in money laundering schemes at the state-owned company.
Dan Rapoport
Businessman and philanthropist who supported Ukrainian causes and a longtime critic of Putin. Rapoport also denounced Russia’s war crimes on social media. He was found dead outside a residential building in Washington, DC, in August 2022. Police said he had fallen from a window, but some suspect he was pushed.
Ravil Maganov
Chairman of Lukoil, Russia’s second-biggest oil company and a rival to Rosneft, controlled by Putin ally Igor Sechin. He died after reportedly falling from a hospital window in Moscow in September 2022. Maganov had expressed sympathy for Ukraine and called for an end to the war.
Pavel Antov
Politician and millionaire, owner of several energy assets in Ukraine and Europe. He died after falling from a hotel window in India in December 2022. Antov had briefly condemned the war started by Putin on WhatsApp, but soon deleted the message and claimed that it would have been written by someone else.
Anton Cherepennikov
He was found dead inside his office in July of this year, presumably the victim of cardiac arrest. Cherepennikov owned ICS Holding, which was responsible for most of the production of wiretapping and the tracking of Internet users and information within Russia. He had also previously worked within the government of Vladimir Putin, alongside the Russian security service.
Gennady Lopyrev
Lopyrev died after falling ill, the day before he was due to apply for parole. The general had been arrested in 2017 on charges of receiving bribes and possessing illegal ammunition, but denied these crimes. Lopyrev was Putin’s bodyguard before he was arrested and oversaw construction work on “Putin’s Palace”, a mansion located on the Black Sea with an estimated value of R$6 billion. Putin denies that the mansion is his. The Russian general knew details about the construction.
Petr Kucherenko
Kucherenko was Russian State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education. He died in May of this year after returning from a trip he had taken to Cuba. The cause of death was not revealed. A journalist friend of his said that, days before he died, Kucherenko had advised him to flee Russia.
Deaths that occurred before the war in Ukraine
The mysterious deaths of critics and dissidents of the Russian government go back a long way, well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Below, see a list of the cases that had the most repercussions.
Boris Nemtsov
A former deputy prime minister and opponent of Putin’s annexation of Crimea, Nemtsov was shot dead near the Kremlin in February 2015. Five Chechens were convicted of his murder, but the mastermind remains unknown.
Anna Politkovskaya
An investigative journalist who reported on human rights abuses and corruption in Chechnya and elsewhere, was gunned down outside her Moscow apartment in October 2006. Six men were convicted of her murder, but the person who ordered it was not identified.
Alexander Litvinenko
A former FSB agent who defected to Britain and accused Putin of orchestrating terrorist attacks and assassinations, he died of radioactive polonium poisoning in London in November 2006. A British investigation concluded that Putin probably approved of his assassination, which was carried out by two Russian agents.
Sergei Magnitsky
A lawyer who uncovered a massive tax fraud scheme involving Russian officials, he died in a Moscow prison in November 2009 after being denied medical care and allegedly tortured. His death sparked international outrage and sanctions against those responsible.
Natalia Estemirova
A human rights activist who documented abuses and disappearances in Chechnya, she was kidnapped and shot dead in July 2009. Her killers have not been found.
Mikhail Lesin
A former media mogul and Kremlin adviser who clashed with Putin’s inner circle, he was found dead in a Washington hotel room in November 2015. to Lesin’s death, but some suspect murder.
Boris Berezovsky
An exiled oligarch and a former close ally of Putin who turned against him after losing his fortune and influence, was found dead at his UK home in March 2013. A coroner was unable to determine whether he had hanged himself or been strangled.
The fate of Prigozhin and the others on this list, who mostly had influence within Russian territory, indicates the risks and consequences of opposing the Kremlin’s policies and actions. In addition to the names above, several other Russian oligarchs also mysteriously died in the country in 2022.
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