Yevgeny Prigozhin “died in a plane crash.”
The alleged death of the founder of the fearsome group of Wagner mercenaries occurred in a “plane crash” registered this Wednesday northeast of Moscow, as reported by the Russian authorities.
The causes of the accident have not yet been clarified. However, the fact that the event occurred just two months after Prigozhin staged the most serious challenge to the power of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in the Kremlin arouses suspicion inside and outside the country. .
From the United States, France and the United Kingdom they insinuate that the thesis that the death of Prigozhin and part of Wagner’s leadership has been orchestrated by Moscow cannot be ruled out, even if it seems to be taken from a Hollywood movie script.
The reason? It would not be the first time that the Russian secret services definitively get rid of opponents, dissidents or critics of the president.
revenge, a cold plate
Until a few months ago Prigozhin was considered one of the closest collaborators of the Russian president. His ties dated back to the times when the ex-spy of the extinct KGB and now Russian president worked in the St. Petersburg City Hall.
However, that closeness ended on June 23. That day, after months of publicly questioning the decisions of the Russian military high command regarding the invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin surprised locals and strangers by ordering his men to take the city of Rostov-on-Don, near the border of the invaded country.
But things did not stop there and the now-defunct businessman ordered his mercenaries to advance towards Moscow with the supposed objective of requesting the dismissal of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu; and his closest associates.
Although the insurrection did not reach any further, thanks to negotiations in which the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, participated, the fact that Wagner’s soldiers occupied a city and advanced almost to the gates of the capital, with almost no resistance, put an end to the myth of the total control that Putin exercised over the country.
With the events still unfolding, Putin did not hide his annoyance and not only described the rebellion as an attempted “coup d’état”, but also promised harsh punishment for its leaders, whom he labeled “traitors” and “stabbing for back” to Russia.
The fact that Prigozhin has been able to move freely within Russia and abroad in recent weeks seems to prove that the president is one of those who believes that “revenge is a dish that is served cold.”
something predictable
Although abrupt, Prizoghin’s disappearance cannot be considered unexpected, since during Putin’s government at least twenty opponents, critics or “traitors” have died in strange circumstances both in Russia and abroad.
One of the first to lose his life was Deputy Vladimir Golovliov, who was shot in Moscow while walking his dog. The legislator, who initially supported the president in his rise to power at the beginning of the century, broke with him shortly after and began to criticize him.
Before his death, the Russian ruling party accused Golovliov of having illegally enriched himself during the privatizations carried out after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Less than a year later, Sergei Yushenkov, another liberal deputy, was shot in the streets of Moscow.
Yushenkov chaired the parliamentary committee that investigated the attacks against apartment buildings that occurred in September 1999 and for which Moscow blamed Chechen terrorists, an argument that helped him launch the second war against the separatist Caucasian republic.
The ill-fated legislator suspected that the attacks were orchestrated by the Russian secret services.
On October 7, 2006, one of the most internationally notorious cases was recorded: the murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who from the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta denounced the Human Rights violations committed by the Kremlin troops in Chechnya.
And although in 2014 the five alleged material authors of the crime were sentenced to long prison terms, the authorities never identified who hired the hitmen and the case was filed in 2021.
However, it was on February 27, 2015 when the assassination took place that would sow suspicion that the Kremlin physically liquidates its opponents. On that day, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was assassinated. The crime occurred near the building where Putin has his office.
In the late 1990s, Nemtsov was a rising star in Russian politics. The liberal scientist and politician was seen as a possible successor to then-President Boris Yeltsin, who later ended up opting for the former spy.
Almost from the beginning, the missing politician launched harsh criticism of Putin, particularly for his policy towards Ukraine and for his intentions to perpetuate himself in power. His position landed him in jail on at least three occasions.
In the 2008 presidential elections, he tried to compete against the president, but later gave up, and a year later, together with other well-known opponents such as former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, he founded the Solidarity party.
Despite the fact that Nemtsov’s assassins were part of the forces of Chechen leader Radman Kadirov, the possible links of this renowned Putin ally to the crime were never investigated.
Since the early 2000s six other politicians, journalists and human rights activists critical of Putin have been assassinated in Russia.
Exile is not refuge
But the list of dead opponents and dissidents includes not only people who were in Russia, but also others who decided to leave, thinking that they would be safe that way.
One of the most remembered cases was that of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in a London hospital in November 2006 after suddenly becoming ill. An investigation revealed that the former agent was poisoned with polonium 210 (a highly radioactive material).
Litvinenko took refuge in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the century, after he denounced that his superiors had ordered him to assassinate the oligarch Boris Berezovksy.
Berezovsky was another who lost his life outside his homeland. In March 2013, the businessman’s body was found inside his residence in Surrey, in the southeast of England.
There are versions that suggest that the oligarch committed suicide, due to the financial problems he was facing. However, the fact that during his exile he suffered several attacks and incessant legal persecution by Moscow has left the possibility that he was executed.
Berezovsky, who amassed a large fortune during Yeltsin’s rule, sought an ally with Putin and financed his first presidential campaign. However, disagreements soon arose when the Kremlin seized the television station he owned.
In March 2018, other Russian dissidents in exile in the United Kingdom were victims of an attack allegedly orchestrated by Moscow. Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok, a powerful poison, by alleged Russian agents in the English city of Salisbury.
Skripal worked for Russia’s Central Intelligence Department (GRU), but was also a double agent for Britain’s MI6 spy service until his arrest in 2004.
The spy was sentenced by the Russian courts to 13 years in prison for committing the crime of treason, but was later exchanged for some agents detained in the US.
London identified two of the perpetrators of the attack as members of Russian intelligence and asked Moscow to hand them over.
However, the Russian government has denied its connection to the event and has not responded to the request; and, for this reason, bilateral relations were already suffering before the invasion of Ukraine.
zero reviews
To the list must be added the names of at least half a dozen oligarchs and former Russian officials who have lost their lives in mysterious circumstances since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
One of the most striking deaths was that of the president of the Russian oil giant Lukoil, Ravil Maganov, who died in September 2022 after “falling out of a window” in the Moscow hospital where he was hospitalized, the authorities reported.
“Putin’s message over the last two decades has been clear: opposition will not be tolerated and it will have fatal consequences,” University of Birmingham professor Stefan Wolff warned in an article.
The also expert in International Security considers that the strategy followed by the Russian president has been “very effective”, because it has allowed him to “silence dissent” and has allowed him to “survive any internal challenge”.
However, he assured that this policy has the disadvantage that it will increase the distrust and paranoia of the Russian leader towards his collaborators.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cd1znzqrjdpo, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-08-24 18:20:06
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