Putin’s suspected assassination victims over the years, from newest to oldest

Wagner Group issue statement after death of Yevgeny Prigozhin

Vladimir Putin has a reputation for taking revenge on those that are not loyal to him and his Kremlin cronies.

The Russian autocrat has turned his country into a mafia state, ordering his goons to snuff out his perceived enemies.

Mr Putin’s predilection for payback has fueled speculation that he is behind the presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief who reportedly died in a plane crash on Wednesday.

Who else has incurred the wrath of the Russian autocrat over the years?

Here’s a rundown of Mr Putin’s alleged hit jobs:

Wagner boss: The Wagner chief who led a failed coup against Putin allegedly died in a plane crash [Getty Images]

Yevgeny Prigozhin

The Wagner chief who led a failed coup against Mr Putin died in a plane crash north of Moscow, August 2023.

The crash immediately raised suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted the mutiny.

Pavel: Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov was found dead after falling from a hotel[Pavel Antov / E2W]

Pavel Antov

In December 2022, the Russian tycoon reportedly fell from a hotel window in Rayagada, India, on December 25 days after his 65th birthday.

The politician and millionaire had criticized Putin’s war with Ukraine on WhatsApp following a missile attack in Kyiv but quickly deleted the message and claimed that someone else wrote it.

Alexei Navalny: Putin’s main political opponent was poisoned in Siberia[AP]

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Alexei Navalny

Mr Putin’s main political opponent was flown to Germany in August 2020 for medical treatment after being poisoned in Siberia with what Western experts concluded was the military nerve agent Novichok.

Russia has denied any involvement. Mr Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021 and was immediately arrested on arrival.

In early August, he had an extra 19 years in a maximum security penal colony added to his jail term.

Poisoned: Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury in 2018 [Yury Senatorov / EPA file]

Sergei Skripal

A former Russian double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence, Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the English cathedral city of Salisbury in March 2018.

They were taken to hospital in critical condition, and British officials said they had been poisoned – like Mr Navalny – with Novichok, a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Both Skripal and his daughter survived.

Russia has denied any role in the poisoning and said Britain was whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.

Window fall: Ravil Maganov died by falling out the window of a Moscow hospital [Getty Images]

Ravil Maganov 

Lukoil chairman Ravil Maganov had been openly critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, CNBC reported.

Shortly after the war began, the oil company called for “the soonest termination of the armed conflict”.

Maganov, similar to Antov, died by falling out the window of a Moscow hospital in September 2022.

Businessman: Rapoport was discovered dead in front of an apartment building in Washington, D.C [Dan Rapoport/Facebook]

Dan Rapoport

Businessman Dan Rapoport publicly condemned the Russia-Ukraine war on social media multiple times and emphasized his support for Ukraine.

He was discovered dead in front of an apartment building in Washington, D.C, in August 2022.

Businessman dead: Russian press minister Mikhail Lesin was found dead in a hotel room [Getty Images]

Mikhail Lesin

Russian press minister Mikhail Lesin was found dead of “blunt force trauma to the head” in a Washington, DC, hotel room in November 2015.

Lesin, who founded the English-language television network Russia Today (RT), was considering making a deal with the FBI to protect himself from corruption charges before his death.

Boris Berezovsky: Berezovsky was found dead inside a locked bathroom [Getty Images]

Boris Berezovsky

Berezovsky was a Russian oligarch who fled to Britain after he fell out with Putin. During his exile he threatened to bring down Putin by force.

He was found dead at his Berkshire home in March 2013 in an apparent suicide, although an inquest into his death recorded an open verdict.

Berezovsky was found dead inside a locked bathroom with a ligature around his neck. The coroner couldn’t explain how he had died.

Natalia Estemirova: The journalist was abducted and then shot in the head[AP]

Natalia Estemirova

Natalia Estemirova was a journalist who sometimes worked with Politkovskaya. She specialized in uncovering human-rights abuses carried out by the Russian state in Chechnya.

She was abducted in 2009 from outside her home and later found in nearby woodland with gunshot wounds to her head. No one has been convicted of her murder.

Double hit: Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova shot by a masked gunman near the Kremlin in 2009 [Yevghenia Kulghina/RFE/RL]

Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova

Human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov represented Politkovskaya and other journalists who had been critical of Putin.

He was shot by a masked gunman near the Kremlin in 2009.

Journalist Anastasia Baburova, who was walking with him, was also shot when she tried to help him.

Alexander Litvinenko: The former KGB agent died after drinking a cup of tea laced with polonium-210 [Getty Images]

Alexander Litvinenko

Litvinenko was a former KGB agent who died three weeks after drinking a cup of tea in 2006 at a London hotel that had been laced with deadly polonium-210.

A British inquiry found that Litvinenko was poisoned by FSB agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who were acting on orders that had “probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.”

Anna Politkovskaya: The journalist was shot at point-blank range in the lift outside her flat [Getty Images]

Anna Politkovskaya

Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist who was critical of Putin. In her book “Putin’s Russia,” she accused Putin of turning his country into a police state.

She was murdered in 2006 by contract killers who shot her at point-blank range in the lift outside her flat.

Five men were convicted of her murder, but the judge found that it was a contract killing, with $150,000 paid by “a person unknown.”

Paul Klebnikov: The editor was killed in 2004 in a drive-by shooting [Getty Images]

Paul Klebnikov

Klebnikov was the chief editor of the Russian edition of Forbes. He had written about corruption and dug into the lives of wealthy Russians. He was killed in 2004 in a drive-by shooting in an apparent contract killing.

Sergei Yushenkov: Politician was killed in 2003 in an assassination by a single shot to the chest[Getty Images]

Sergei Yushenkov

Yushenkov was a Russian politician who was attempting to prove the Russian state was behind the bombing of an apartment block.

He was killed in 2003 in an assassination by a single shot to the chest just hours after his political organization, Liberal Russia, had been recognized by the Justice Ministry as a party.

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