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

An improvised memorial to Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash near Moscow on 23 August 2023. Photograph: Anatoly Maltsev/EPA

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 the Russian president.

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 two months ago appeared to have added a new method to the Kremlin’s extensive assassination menu.