Poisonings, plane crashes and falls from windows: What happened to Putin’s most vocal critics
President Vladimir Putin faces no real threat in the 2024 Russian elections. Over the past couple of decades, a string of his critics have died – most recently imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Over his more than two decades at the top of the Kremlin, a number of Mr Putin’s opponents have suffered unfortunate fates – including being jailed, shot dead in the street, or poisoned with tea spiked with polonium-210.
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As polling day in Russia approaches, Sky News asks: Who are the people who have dared speak out against Mr Putin or defy the Kremlin, and where are they now?
Alexei Navalny appears on video link from the IK-3 penal colony. Pic: Reuters
Alexei Navalny
Born to factory owners in a village west of Moscow, Alexei Navalny grew to become perhaps the highest-profile critic of Mr Putin’s time in power.
His political activism, including extensive investigations into high-level corruption and running to be mayor of Moscow, gained him fame – and many believed he posed a threat to Mr Putin.
It was in August 2020 when his fight against the Russian president hit the global headlines.
Mr Navalny fell gravely ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow and he was flown, still in a coma, to Berlin.
His team accused the Kremlin of poisoning him, a charge the Kremlin denied.
German medics confirmed that he had been poisoned with novichok – a Soviet-era nerve agent – and his recovery took months.
Despite the danger, Mr Navalny elected to return to Russia where he was later arrested, convicted on charges he says are politically motivated, and sent to a Russian penal colony.
Russian officials said Mr Navalny died in prison.
Boris Nadezhdin speaks in Moscow. Pic: AP
Boris Nadezhdin
Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin declared that he would run against Mr Putin in the 2024 presidential election.
Despite doubts that the 60-year-old could present a serious challenge to the incumbent leader, Mr Nadezhdin said he had gathered more than 200,000 signatures from across Russia.
He had surprised some analysts with his strong criticism of what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, calling the war a “fatal mistake” and vowing to try to end it through negotiations.
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On 8 February, he said he had been barred from running in the election and the Central Election Commission said it had found flaws in signatures his campaign had collected.
He vowed to appeal to Russia’s supreme court, adding: “Taking part in the presidential election in 2024 is the most important political decision of my life. I am not giving up on my intentions.”
Speaking to Sky News last year, Mr Nadezhdin said he was not afraid of speaking out “because I have a long life” and he had faced death several times.
From hotdog seller to Wagner Group mercenary chief. Pic: Razgruzka_Vagnera telegram
Yevgeny Prigozhin
The ascension of Yevgeny Prigozhin from a hot dog seller to the boss of a private army which marched on Moscow was remarkable.
His Wagner Group mercenaries were notorious both for their brutality in Ukraine but also their influence in Africa.
Prigozhin became increasingly bold in his criticism of the Russian military and its top command.
Wreckage of the private jet that crashed with Yevgeny Prigozhin on board. Pic: Reuters
When his forces began a march on Moscow from the southern city of Rostov it appeared to be the biggest challenge to Mr Putin for decades, but the apparent coup attempt fizzled halfway to the capital.
In August 2023, he died a fiery death when the private plane he was on crashed north of Moscow, raising suspicions of Kremlin involvement.
The Kremlin denied assassinating Mr Prigozhin, calling accusations of Mr Putin’s involvement “an absolute lie”.
A commemorative rally in St Petersburg for journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2009. Pic: Reuters
Anna Politkovskaya
On 7 October 2006 – Mr Putin’s birthday – journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot in the lobby of her apartment building.
Before her death, she had specialised in investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya and corruption more broadly.
Her killing led to claims that Mr Putin had not done enough to protect the media.
He described the murder as “abominable in its cruelty” and commented that her death caused more problems for the Kremlin than her work.
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Boris Nemtsov speaks in Moscow in 2007
Boris Nemtsov
A former deputy prime minister of Russia under President Boris Yeltsin, Boris Nemtsov was a fierce critic of Putin and a prominent opposition leader.
He had been working on a report examining Russia’s role in the conflict in Ukraine in 2015.
But, aged 55, he was killed before it was finished. Mr Nemtsov was shot dead on a bridge just metres from the Kremlin as he walked home at night with his girlfriend.
Five men were found guilty of organising and carrying out the contract killing. Zaur Dadayev, an officer in Chechen leader and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov’s security forces, was found guilty of firing the fatal shots.
The Kremlin denied involvement in the killing.
Alexei Navalny speaks with Garry Kasparov during a protest in Moscow in 2012. Pic: Reuters
Alexander Litvinenko
A former agent with the Russian FSB security service, Alexander Litvinenko fled Russia and eventually gained British citizenship.
He had accused Mr Putin of corruption and also blamed him for the infamous Moscow apartment bombings which Mr Putin, then prime minister, had used as a reason to start the Second Chechen War in 1999. It proved hugely popular and helped bring him to power.
Litvinenko died in November 2006, weeks after drinking tea that had been poisoned with polonium-210, a rare and very potent radioactive isotope.
The poison was ingested during a meeting with two Russian spies at the Millennium Hotel in London and the killing is thought to have been signed off by Putin himself. Russia has always denied any involvement.
Garry Kasparov
Regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time, Garry Kasparov has been living in exile in New York since 2013.
The former world champion had become an impassioned campaigner against Mr Putin’s rule and took part in some of the mass opposition street protests organised by Alexei Navalny.
He has said he fears arrest were he to return to Russia.
Ravil Maganov with President Vladimir Putin in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Ravil Maganov
The chairman of the board of Russia’s second largest oil producer Lukoil, Ravil Maganov had openly criticised the war in Ukraine.
In a statement in March 2022, the board called for the “soonest termination of the armed conflict” and expressed “sincere empathy for all victims”.
It added: “We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy.”
In September that year, 67-year-old Mr Maganov died after apparently falling from a sixth-floor window at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.
Paul Klebnikov. Pic: AP
Paul Klebnikov
Investigative journalist, Paul Klebnikov, an American of Russian descent, was killed outside his office in a drive-by shooting in Moscow in 2004.
He was the editor of Forbes Russia and had written about corruption.
Forbes had also published a list of the country’s richest people.
Chechen journalist and activist Natalia Estemirova. Pic: Reuters
Natalia Estemirova
Natalia Estemirova was an award-winning human rights campaigner who had collected evidence of abuses in Chechnya since the start of the second war there in 1999.
She was kidnapped near her home on 15 July 2009 in the Chechen capital, Grozny.
Several hours later her body was found in an area of woodland, with gunshots wounds to the head and chest.
Then president Dmitry Medvedev rejected claims that Chechnyan leader Ramzan Kadyrov was responsible and suggested the killing had been carried out to discredit the Kremlin.
Maria Maksakova, widow of Denis Voronenkov, at his memorial service in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Denis Voronenkov
A former Russian politician, Denis Voronenkov was an outspoken critic of Mr Putin.
Previously a member of the communist faction in the lower house of Russian parliament, Mr Voronenkov fled to Ukraine in 2016 and was granted Ukrainian citizenship.
He was shot and killed in Kyiv in March 2017.
Ukraine’s then president Petro Poroshenko described his killing as an “act of state terrorism” by Russia – an accusation rejected by the Kremlin.
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Pic: Reuters
Boris Berezovsky
Former billionaire Boris Berezovsky had been living in exile in Britain since 2000 when he was found dead in 2013.
He made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s during the mass sell off of state assets following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Once incredibly rich, in his later years his fortune is believed to have dwindled.
James Nixey, head of Chatham House’s Russia programme, previously described him as “the most virulently anti-Kremlin, anti-Putin of the oligarchs”.
“He was certainly willing to spend his money, what little he had left, in an attempt to use it to end the current regime in Russia.”
Mr Berezovsky was found dead at his home in Berkshire. An inquest recorded an open verdict amid conflicting evidence about the way his body was found hanged.
Forensic workers in Salisbury after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Pic: PA
Sergei Skripal
Formerly a colonel with Russian military intelligence before leaving in 1999, Sergei Skripal went on to work at the country’s foreign ministry until 2003.
He was arrested in Moscow a year later and confessed to having been recruited by British intelligence in 1995.
He said he had given information to British intelligence about Russian agents in Europe in return for around $100,000 (£79,300).
Mr Skripal was jailed but later released in a spy swap and moved to the UK.
In 2018, along with his daughter, he was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok but the pair survived the attack.
The Kremlin denied that Russia was in any way involved in the poisoning, describing British accusations that an attack had been approved by senior Russian officials as “unacceptable”.
Sergei Yushenkov was shot dead in 2003 Pic: AP
Sergei Yushenkov
Liberal Russian politician Sergei Yushenkov was shot dead in a Moscow suburb in 2003.
A member of the State Duma and former colonel in the Soviet army, Mr Yushenkov was shot several times outside his apartment building.
He had been involved in setting up the Liberal Russia Party, which had achieved full registration just hours before he was killed.
Mr Yushenkov had been willing to speak out against Putin and the war in Chechnya.
World
Up to a million Palestinians could be ‘permanently relocated’ to war-torn Libya under US plans
Up to a million Palestinians could be permanently relocated from devastated Gaza to war-torn Libya under plans being worked on by Donald Trump’s administration, NBC News reports.
The idea has been discussed with Libya’s leadership, sources told Sky’s US partner network, and would potentially see billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds released.
The North African country remains divided in two – nearly 14 years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi sparked a civil war – with two rival governments fighting for control.
It comes as Israel continues a campaign of airstrikes on Gaza, with 93 people killed and hundreds injured on Friday, according to local medics.
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Sky’s team saw bodies arrive at Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital
No final agreement on any Libya plans have been reached, sources told NBC News, and US government agencies did not respond to requests for comment from the news outlet.
Previous suggestions to resettle Palestinians from Gaza – voluntarily or otherwise – have provoked international outcry, particularly from Arab states who likely will play a role in rebuilding the enclave after any permanent ceasefire deal.
And Libya is far from a safe nation, according to the US State Department’s own travel advice, which says Americans should not travel to the country “due to crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.
President Trump, speaking on the final day of his Middle East trip, said he was looking to resolve a range of global crises, including Gaza.
“We’re looking at Gaza,” he said. “And we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are – there’s a lot of bad things going on.”
An Israeli tank nears the border with Gaza. Pic: Reuters
There had been hopes that his tour of the region could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or prompt Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza that is preventing humanitarian aid from getting in.
But instead Israel has continued to launch airstrikes on the territory, killing more than 250 people in the last two days, according to Hamas-run health authorities.
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The Israeli military, which had dropped leaflets on the northern town of Beit Lahia ordering residents to leave, said their airforce had struck more than 150 military targets across Gaza in recent days.
This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.
Israeli officials said the latest strikes were a prelude to a larger military campaign in Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages.
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Trump wraps up Middle East tour
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Ahmed Abu Riziq, founder of the Gaza Great Minds Foundation, which seeks to give children access to education in Gaza, said “the hell doors opened” in the last few days.
Speaking to Sky News from Gaza City, he said: “Myself with my family, we had to flee today from some certain areas in northern Gaza City… people are running in the streets. They don’t know where to go or where to sleep at night. So it’s really catastrophic.”
“No food is entering Gaza,” he added, saying that people are dying from hunger.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this month that Israel plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, warned the Security Council this week it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim Israel vehemently denies.
Russia and Ukraine failed to agree to a ceasefire in their first direct talks since 2022 – as European leaders called Moscow’s approach “unacceptable” after the discussions lasted less than two hours and Vladimir Putin stayed away.
The meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, was set up at short notice on President Putin‘s behest, but he declined a challenge from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet him in person and instead sent relatively junior representatives.
A source in the Ukrainian team told Sky News that Russia had threatened “eternal war” during the talks.
They said the Russians were not ready to talk about technical details of a ceasefire and were waiting for superiors to approve them.
Latest updates on Istanbul talks
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan chairs a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul. Pic: Reuters
Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each in what would be the biggest such exchange yet of the conflict.
But Kyiv wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Donald Trump for a 30-day ceasefire.
President Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he had spoken to Mr Trump by phone – alongside Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland – who all met in Albania on Friday.
In a post on X, he said Ukraine was “ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace” and that “tough sanctions must follow” if Russia continues to resist a month-long truce.
The Ukrainian delegation. Pic: Reuters
The Russian delegation. Pic: Reuters
Frustration over Russia‘s perceived stalling in holding serious negotiations was also clear from the European leaders gathered in Tirana.
“The Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time,” said Sir Keir.
“So as a result of that meeting with President Zelenskyy and that call with President Trump we are now closely aligning our responses and will continue to do so.”
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Don’t get your hopes up of talks Trump-Putin talks anytime soon
The talks were held in Dolmabache Palace in Istanbul. Pic: AP
The UK prime minister said the no-show by Russia’s leader was “more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace” and has “been dragging his heels”.
NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, who was also in Albania, said President Putin had made a “big mistake” by sending low-level delegates to Istanbul.
A list of representatives ahead of the meeting listed presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich and deputy defence chief Alexander Fomin.
Ukraine’s delegation was led by defence minister Rustem Umerov.
President Zelenskyy had called the Russian team “a theatre prop” ahead of the summit in the Dolmabahce Palace.
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Ukrainian ‘despair’ over missing civilians
However, Turkey’s foreign minister heralded it as “an important day for world peace” and said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to swap 1,000 POWs each as a “confidence-building measure”.
Hakan Fidan shared a picture of the delegations and said they had “agreed to share with the other side in writing the conditions that would make it possible to reach a ceasefire”.
Russia’s Vladimir Medinsky said his team had “taken note” of the Ukrainian request for direct talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy.
“We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail,” said Mr Medinsky.
Hopes ahead of the meeting were low after Mr Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, played down the prospect of meaningful progress.
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Trump on meeting Putin: ‘As soon as we can set it up’
The US president told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together”, while Mr Rubio said a “breakthrough” was unlikely until the US and Russian presidents meet.
No date for such a meeting has been proposed, but Mr Trump has said it will happen “as soon as we can set it up”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that top-level talks were “certainly needed” but arranging it would take time.
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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was a notable absentee, despite attending Ukraine-focused talks with the US in Saudi Arabia in February.
Russia has so far failed to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – proposed by European leaders who have threatened Moscow with “massive” sanctions if it doesn’t sign up. The US also supports the plan.
The Kremlin has ambitions to keep swathes of Ukrainian land as part of any long-term truce, an idea that Kyiv firmly rejects.
Russia also wants an end to Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and a promise it will stay neutral.
Israeli strikes on Gaza killed at least 93 people and injured hundreds on Friday, according to local medics.
Heavy strikes were reported in the northern town of Beit Lahia and the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.
Israel said it had killed several militants in an observation compound.
Its forces also struck Khan Younis and the outskirts of Deir al Balah in southern Gaza.
Mourners at the Indonesian Hospital attend the funerals of people killed in Israeli attacks. Pic: Reuters
Officials at Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital said at least 66 bodies had been brought there, while 16 are said to have been taken to the Nasser Hospital further south.
More than 250 people have now been killed in Israeli strikes since Thursday, according to local health authorities.
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Moment of Israeli strike on house
Israel, which had dropped leaflets on Beit Lahia ordering residents to leave, said its airforce had struck more than 150 military targets across Gaza in recent days.
This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but expert analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.
Read more:
How Israel has escalated Gaza bombing campaign
Displaced Palestinians fled Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, on Friday. Pic: AP
Israeli tanks near the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday. Pic: Reuters
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, warned the Security Council this week it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim Israel vehemently denies.
Donald Trump spoke about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as he wrapped up his trip to the Middle East.
In Abu Dhabi, the US president said: “We’re looking at Gaza, and we got to get that taken care of.
“A lot of people are starving, a lot of people. There’s a lot of bad things going on.”
Donald Trump was in Abu Dhabi on Friday as he wrapped up his regional visit. Pic: AP
While most of his four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates focused on trade deals, he also chose to recognise the new government in Syria and urged Iran to engage in nuclear talks.
There had been hope Mr Trump’s visit could bring about a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
An Israeli aid blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
Israel says the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages and that it won’t allow aid back in until a system is in place that gives it control over distribution.
Earlier this week, a new humanitarian organisation said it expected to begin operations before the end of the month after what it described as key agreements from Israeli officials.
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Hamas: ‘We believe Trump has done a lot of hard work’
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – which has US backing – identified several US military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors that it said would lead the delivery effort.
Many in the humanitarian community, including the UN, said the system does not align with humanitarian principles and will not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s people.
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The war began when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Israel has killed nearly 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of May that Israel was planning an expanded offensive against Hamas as his cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
A defence official said at the time that it would not begin before President Trump finished his visit to the Middle East.
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