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Topics: World News, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Ukraine
Emma Guinness
Topics: World News, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Ukraine
Vladimir Putin's ongoing war with Ukraine has been subject to international condemnation, and now 12 critics from within Russia itself have died under mysterious circumstances.
The high-profile death of Ravil Maganov, 67, has escalated fears among those who have voiced opposition to the war after he was allegedly beaten before 'falling' to his death on 1 September.
At the time of Russia's decision to escalate its ongoing conflict with Ukraine in February, Magnaov's company, Lukoi, said it had 'deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine' and called for 'the soonest termination of the armed conflict.'
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Maganov was the chairman of the national oil company and an oligarch, and he died after allegedly falling from a hospital window - although some reports have suggested that he was murdered.
It was claimed that the alleged crime took place shortly before Putin himself paid a visit to the facility and that he had allegedly approved of the oil chairman being 'thrown out of a window'.
Putin was visiting the hospital to attend the lying in state of ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on 30 August.
Taking to the instant messaging app Telegram, anti-war campaigners said: "The reason for the murder was Maganov's 'special opinion' different from the opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Putin not only knew about the preparation of the assassination, but also gave his consent by approving the method and timing of the liquidation."
However, it is not just campaigners who have deemed Maganov's death a state-approved murder, so too has Anastasia Kashevarova, co-founder of the Daily Storm, an independent media outlet.
She wrote: "This was not a natural death, but a man-made one.
"Moreover, the death [was] on the birthday of Lukoil co-owner Vagit Alekperov. Moreover, death [was] on the day of Putin's arrival to say goodbye to Gorbachev."
As reported by the Mirror, vocal critics of Putin have been regularly 'liquidated' from as far back as 2006, supposedly starting with Alexander Litvinenko.
The former KGB member's death came after Moscow reportedly changed the law to 'liquidate' anyone suspected of being against Putin or the Kremlin.
With Russia escalating the situation in Ukraine on 24 February, there have been 12 seemingly mysterious deaths this year alone.
The first of which was of Gazprom boss Leonid Schulman, 60, who died in January an apparent suicide.
Then, a day after Russia announced full-scale war in Ukraine, another critic of Putin, Gazprom boss Alexander Tyulyakjov, 61, died in an apparent suicide.
There have been multiple deaths since, including some involving anti-Putin critics and their families.
The most recent killing wasn't even that of Maganov, but Putin's former ally Ivan Pechorin, 39, who died on 10 September after allegedly 'falling' from a boat and drowning.