Russian oligarchs critical of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine tend to die by falling from open windows or in other bizarre circumstances.
Last week, Russian-born politician Pavel Andov died after falling from a hotel window while on vacation in India. The BBC reported that he criticized Putin’s war in Ukraine, saying the Russian missile attack on Kiev was “very difficult to call anything other than terrorism”. Two weeks earlier, Ando’s colleague Vladimir Budanov, 61, died of a heart attack at the same hotel.
In September, Ravil Maganov, head of the Russian oil company Lukoil, fell to his death from a hospital window in Moscow after expressing his “deep concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine”.
And there are others. But by far the strangest death of a Russian oligarch was that of Alexander Subodin in May. His body was found in the basement of a shaman’s house on the outskirts of Moscow, which was used for “Jamaican voodoo rituals,” according to the TASS agency.
Is this just a coincidence, this succession of Putin-critical Russian oligarchs dying under suspicious circumstances? Either way, it gets the brains of conspiracy theorists working.
Putin: Big losses, but no victory
The harder Putin tries and refuses to leave Ukraine, the harder it will be. As Ukraine’s allies become more united and effective in providing military aid to Kiev against Putin, support from the oligarchs around him is wavering.
They sense his growing weakness and position themselves in the post-Putin era, already maneuvering each other. Putin feels his unpopularity. The ‘window drop’ purge is a sinister warning to intimidate enemies.
But those killed have influential friends and families who will not forgive the tyrant. Thus, Putin will be forced to engage in a syndrome of purges and repressions, making the situation even more volatile.
A tragic example of February 1917
As Putin aggressively pursues his bloody and failed attacks on Ukraine, opposition is growing within his forces, who are seen as “cannon fodder.” It reminds me of the uprising of the Russian soldiers in the February Revolution of 1917 that led to the Bolshevik Revolution.
Putin made a huge mistake when he thought he could easily take over Ukraine. He must be removed from power and Russia must be defeated, so its future leaders will think twice before invading neighboring countries annexed willingly or by force by the Tsarist Empire or the Soviet Union.
This could end badly for Putin, Russia and perhaps everyone.
