Paul Goble
Staunton,
September 21 – Political murders in Russia are always ordered by the top man
rather than being the decision of some subordinate group, Igor Eidman says; and
once a Kremlin leader demonstrates he is ready to use this technique, the potential
hit list usually contains those who have most infuriated the dictator.
For
Stalin, those included Trotsky, Mikhoels, and Konovalets; for Putin, it has
already included Litvinenko, Nemtsov, Voronenkov, Kara-Murza Junior, the Skripals,
and Verzilov, all people who have infuriated Putin by their statements or
actions, the Russian commentator says (facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2039888709407431&id=100001589654713).
This suggests, Eidman continues,
that those at greatest risk from the Kremlin are those who have angered Putin
the most. And he suggests that “the top there
potential victims of Putin” in the coming weeks and months include:
1.
“Bill
Browder. Putin hates him. He is practically ‘the Trotsky of today.’ The most
active critic of the Kremlin in the West.
I think,” Eidman says, “that the dictator would have killed him long ago”
if there were a way to do so at lost cost to himself. “It is completely possible that the Russian
special servicds simply are awaiting a suitable case to dispatch Browder.”
2.
“Aleksey Navalny. Putin also obviously hates ‘this
person’ too. In contrast to Browder, it would not be hard to seize Navalny but
this would threaten unpredictable consequences including an intensification of
conflict between the authorities and young people. However, Putin at any moment
can decide that Navalny has crossed a red line and to kill him is more suitable
than not.”
3.
“The banker Sergey Pugachev. For Putin, he is a
traitor. He belonged to a quite small circle and now is giving the Western
media their common secrets.”
Of course, Eidman says, Putin’s “list is much
longer. These three are simply the most obvious names.”
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