As Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine drags well into its second year, the Russian president’s brutal reputation keeps heightening. This is the case even as Putin obsesses over cabbage while cutting off ammo from his private army of mercenaries as they suffer enormous loss off life alongside garden-variety Russian troops. The Kremlin has also been making Lex Luthor-type statements, yet since the war’s onset in early 2022, people cannot help but notice (on a more micro note) that Russian elites (with close ties to Putin) continue to die mysterious deaths after criticizing his bloodshed in Ukraine.
The Sun has assembled a staggering list of 39 such deaths so far, and that includes several deaths when elites seemingly wander out of high-story windows while taking smoke breaks and such. Others have been strangled and died from gunshot wounds in deaths that have been ruled “suicides,” and here’s a sampling of the more bizarre instances:
– Died of ‘drug induced heart attack’ during shamanic ritual in Moscow
– Shot dead in swimming pool in Leningrad
– Fell down a cliff to his death in Sochi
– Burned alive in his apartment in Moscow
– Dies in hospital of sepsis in Moscow
If you think that this montage sounds not unlike “Baptismal bloodbath” at the end of The Godfather, then you’re not alone. The Sun spoke to analysts who allege that Putin is a “mafia boss” figure, and these analysis also believe that contract killing could play a role here. A retired U.S. Army Military Intelligence Officer, Jon Sweet, declared, “Anyone seen as a potential threat seems to have an attraction to an open window.” Whereas Professor Anthony Glees declared that “two kinds of victim” exist, and those include actual high-profile critics (“frequently involved in big Russian corporations”) of the war, along with “those who Putin believes have double-crossed him.”
Of course, nothing conclusive has ever arisen from side-eyes toward Putin for his opponents dying in mysterious and seemingly unlikely ways. Speculation will continue to abound, though, and it’s worth noting that Putin has jailed his most vocal political opponent, Alexei Nalvalny, for years, and a documentary on his life won an Academy Award at Sunday night’s ceremony.
(Via The Sun)