Vladimir Putin accused of being behind the mysterious deaths of 39 Russian elites

Jon Sweet, a retired US Army Military Intelligence Officer, and Mark Toth, a national security analyst, have claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is running a 'mafia cartel' responsible for the deaths of more than 30 Russian elites.

Vladimir Putin's FSB is like Murder Inc.

Sweet and Toth believe:

The Kremlin, absolutely, is the connective tissue behind Putin’s modern-day FSB version of Murder Inc. when it comes to the propensity for Russia’s elite 'falling' out of windows, conveniently dying of 'heart attacks', or committing 'suicide'.

Murder Inc. was an organised crime group and an arm of the American National Crime Syndicate that is believed to be responsible for over 1,000 contact killings in the 1930s.

Toth told The Sun Online:

We can’t know exactly how many, but most of these deaths are not people dying from natural causes or self-harm.

Lightning can strike twice in the same place, but in Russia, it has struck upwards of 35 times.

Sweet said:

Anyone seen as a potential threat seems to have an attraction to an open window.

Since Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, many high-profile Russian figures have died in mysterious and suspicious circumstances, such as sudden 'suicides' and falls from windows.

The Sun Online calculated at least 39 deaths since January last year. The most recent were the deaths of Sergey Grishin and Andrey Botikov.

Read more: Vladimir Putin's top commander hospitalised after escaping mysterious assassination attempt

Grishin, also known as the 'Scarface oligarch', sold Prince Harry and Meghan Markletheir mansion in California. He passed away last Monday 6 March from sepsis after criticising Putin. Botikov was a scientist who created the Russian 'Sputnik V' Covid-19 vaccine. On Thursday 2 March, he was strangled to death with a belt in his apartment.

Deaths key to Putin's survival

While Putin is not behind all of the deaths, with some having legitimate explanations, 'death is always there to remind Putin's cronies of their duties', according to Professor Anthony Glees, an intelligence expert from the University of Buckingham.

Professor Glees explained:

There are two kinds of victim, as far as we can tell: those who are opposed to Putin's Ukraine policies… And those who Putin believes have double-crossed him.

The big question for analysts is whether these killings are 'political' murders of political opponents who might be plotting to get rid of Putin, or 'mafia' killings designed to 'encourage' those who have taken Putin's gold not to stray

In Professor Glees' opinion, 'the two things are the same':

Russia under Putin has become a state where political opponents can and will be killed and Russia under Putin is a mafia state, a network of foul criminals who believe that if they don't hang together, they will ultimately hang separately.

Toth believes that Putin uses these alleged murders to 'insulate himself', and along with Sweet, believes that 'Putin’s ability to survive is likely equal to his capacity to keep murdering "down"'.

Vladimir Putin losing control?

While Putin may be trying to maintain power by allegedly getting rid of critics and political opponents, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has admitted that there is infighting among 'unspecified Kremlin "elites"' in Putin's inner circle. And, that this has led to the Russian leader losing control of Russia's war narrative. According to an Institute for the Study of War report:

The statement supports several assessments: that there is Kremlin infighting between key members of Putin's inner circle; that Putin has largely ceded the Russian information space over time to a variety of quasi-independent actors; and that Putin is apparently unable to take decisive action to regain control over the Russian information space.

Read more: Vladimir Putin fires top Russian military general, weeks later he mysteriously dies

Sources used:

The Sun: 'MURDER INC. Bloodthirsty ‘mafia boss’ Putin killing Russian elite to cling to power as 39 oligarchs & officials mysteriously die'

Newsweek: 'Kremlin Admits Putin Losing Control of Russia's War Narrative — ISW'