Twenty years of ruthlessness: how Russia has silenced Putin’s opponents

From poisonings to shootings to falls from windows and now possibly plane crashes, the Kremlin has been accused of numerous lethal attacks, writes Pjotr Sauer

Throughout Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule, Kremlin critics, journalists and defected spies have met with ruthless treatment for opposing his rule. File picture: Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik via AP

The form of the attacks has varied, from underwear daubed with the nerve agent novichok and polonium-laced tea to more straightforward assassinations by bullet, but throughout Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule, Kremlin critics, journalists and defected spies have met with similarly ruthless treatment for opposing his rule.

The fatal crash of a private jet carrying the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin two months after he spearheaded a mutiny against Russia’s top army brass appeared to have added a new method to the Kremlin’s extensive assassination menu.