The reasons for the death of opponent Alexeï Navalny have not yet been determined, but those close to the political opponent are already blaming the Russian regime. Since Vladimir Putin came to power, many opponents have been imprisoned or driven into exile, and repression has increased further since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022.

Poisoned, murdered or suddenly fallen ill, suspicious disappearances have also multiplied without the sponsors always being clearly identified. France 24 invites you to look back on the death of the most emblematic opponents of recent years.

Anna Politkovskaïa, Russian journalist, shot dead on October 7, 2006. © FMM Graphic Studio

A globally recognized investigative journalist, she worked for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Recognized as a specialist in crimes committed by the authorities in Chechnya and an ardent critic of Vladimir Putin, Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in the lobby of her building in Moscow on October 7, 2006, the Russian president's birthday.

The sponsors of the crime have never been identified, even if many opponents of the Kremlin and the regime in Chechnya consider that Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader of this region of the Caucasus, is the main suspect. The person concerned has always denied it.

It took a long legal process for the perpetrators of the crime to be found guilty. Sentenced to twenty years in prison for his role in the assassination of the journalist, Sergei Khadjikurbanov, a former police officer, finally benefited from a presidential pardon in 2023 for having joined Russian forces in Ukraine.

Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian agent, died on November 23, 2006 following polonium-210 poisoning. © FMM Graphic Studio

A former KGB and then FSB agent, Alexander Litvinenko was dismissed from the Russian security services, then obtained asylum in the United Kingdom in 2001, denouncing corruption and the alleged links of the Russian services with organized crime. He died on November 23, 2006 following poisoning with polonium-210, an extremely toxic radioactive substance.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judged Russia “responsible” for the assassination of the ex-spy in 2021, drawing criticism from Moscow, which rejected an “unfounded” judgment. Seized by the widow of the former spy, the ECHR relied in particular on the content of the British public inquiry. It concluded in 2016 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “probably approved” the murder.

Stanislav Markelov, Russian lawyer, Anastasia Baburova, Ukrainian journalist, shot dead on January 19, 2009 © FMM Graphic Studio

Russian lawyer Stanislav Markelov was killed on January 19, 2009 in the heart of Moscow, when he had just denounced during a press conference the early release of former Russian colonel Yuri Boudanov, sentenced to ten years in prison in 2003 for having strangled Elza Koungaïeva, an 18-year-old Chechen, three years earlier.

When he was killed, Stanislav Markelov was accompanied by Anastasia Baburova, an intern at Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper which also denounced abuses committed during the two Chechen wars and for which Anna Politkovskaya had worked. Seriously injured during the attack, she also died from her injuries. 

A young Russian ultranationalist was sentenced in 2011 to life imprisonment for this double murder by a Moscow court. His partner, who was also tried in the same case, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for complicity. 

Natalia Estemirova, Russian journalist and human rights activist, shot dead on July 15, 2009 © FMM Graphic Studio

A France 24 team was to interview Natalia Estemirova on July 15, 2009 at the headquarters of Memorial, the Russian NGO where she worked, in Grozny. Not seeing her arrive, our journalists alerted members of her organization who then set out to look for her in the streets of the Chechen capital. She was found dead a few hours later of two bullets to the head and chest, in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, in the Russian Caucasus. 

Natalia Estemirova was investigating the kidnappings and summary executions of relatives of Chechen separatists. The NGO Memorial directly blamed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The latter had openly threatened the journalist. In a judgment published in 2021, the ECHR ruled that Russian authorities failed to carry out a proper investigation into the assassination of Natalia Estemirova. No sponsor, organizer or perpetrator of this assassination has been found.

Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer, died in prison on November 16, 2009. © FMM Graphic Studio

Sergei Magnitsky, 37, advised the Western investment fund Hermitage Capital. He died on November 16, 2009 in a Moscow prison, after eleven months in pre-trial detention. He was arrested in 2008 for tax fraud after denouncing a vast financial scheme worth 5.4 billion rubles (130 million euros) hatched, according to him, by police and tax officials to the detriment of his employer as well. than the Russian state.

The ECHR highlighted in 2019 the mistreatment inflicted on him by his guards shortly before his death, the fact that the investigation into the circumstances of his death was "neither complete nor effective", the "deficiencies in medical care " which were lavished on him and the fact that his trial and posthumous conviction – described as “inherently inadequate” – had failed to respect his right to a fair trial. She also considered that the decision taken in March 2013 by the Russian authorities to close the case was “superficial”.

Mikhail Beketov, Russian journalist, died following an attack on April 8, 2013. © FMM Graphic Studio

Editor-in-chief of a local newspaper and environmental activist, Mikhail Beketov was a leading figure in the movement to protect the Khimki forest, in the suburbs of Moscow, threatened by the construction of a highway. Violently attacked on November 13, 2008, he was left for dead and spent several months in a coma after having a leg and several fingers amputated. He had also lost the use of speech.

Never recovered from his attack, he finally died in a hospital on April 8, 2013. When his death was announced, the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, called on the authorities to continue their research in order to find the perpetrators of this crime. These were never found.

Boris Nemtsov, former Russian Deputy Prime Minister, shot dead on February 27, 2015. © FMM Graphic Studio

Less than three hours before his death, Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin, called for demonstrations against Vladimir Putin. The man who embodied the generation of young reformers of the 1990s was shot dead, right next to the Kremlin, on the night of Friday February 27 to Saturday February 28, 2015.

He was notably one of the leaders of the unprecedented wave of protests which marked the 2011-2012 electoral campaign of Vladimir Putin, then a candidate for a third presidential term. Several times arrested by the police during demonstrations, he had also suffered searches and wiretapping, without ever stopping denouncing the corruption of what he called the Kremlin's "oligarchic system".

In July 2017, five Chechens were convicted of his murder. They were sentenced to sentences ranging from eleven to twenty years in prison after a trial which, however, did not make it possible to determine the identity of their sponsor.

Ravil Maganov, Russian businessman, died of illness or after suicide on September 1, 2022; © FMM Graphic Studio

Ravil Maganov was one of the historic leaders of the Russian private oil group Lukoil. The causes of his death, which occurred on September 1, 2022, are enigmatic. Officially, he is said to have died of a "serious illness", but the Russian press agencies Tass and Interax also claimed that he committed suicide by throwing himself out of the sixth floor of the hospital where he was being treated.

In March 2022, Lukoil was one of the very few Russian companies to call for an end to the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which was followed by an avalanche of Western sanctions against major Russian groups and senior officials. Billionaire Vaguit Alekperov, then president of the group, resigned after being placed on the list of Russian personalities sanctioned by the United Kingdom.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian oligarch, died in a plane crash on August 23, 2023. © FMM Graphic Studio

Boss of the Wagner militia, Yevgeny Prigojine died on August 23, 2023 in the crash of a plane between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. At the start of the war in Ukraine, he had gradually established himself as a key figure in the conflict, capitalizing on the difficulties of the Russian army against kyiv. 

But in June 2023, he was at the origin of a rebellion directed against the Russian general staff and the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu. His men had briefly captured military sites in southern Russia before heading toward Moscow. Vladimir Putin called him a "traitor", without mentioning his name. Evgeni Prigojine then justified his action by his desire to remove the Russian military commanders whom he accused of failing in Ukraine through their corruption and incompetence.

The disappearance of the leader of this paramilitary group has raised many questions, in particular that of potential revenge on the part of the one who has long been considered one of the allies: Russian President Vladimir Putin, to punish him after his coup by force. The circumstances of the plane crash have not yet been clarified.

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