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The World Must Care About Murdered Russian Dissidents
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on board a plane before the departure for the Russian capital Moscow at an airport in Berlin, Germany January 17, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Polina Ivanova/File Photo.
In 2017, I wrote this:
Anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny posted a report on YouTube detailing the corruption of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. After more than 13 million views in roughly three weeks, people, including a large number of teenagers, answered Navalny’s call for public protest. They flooded the streets of 95 Russian cities, as well as London, Prague, Basel, and Bonn. Many carried rubber ducks — or real ducks — referring to reports of a luxury duck farm on one of Medvedev’s properties.
Depending on the source, 7,000-8,000 (Russia’s Interior Ministry) or 25,000-30,000 (Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation) people turned out in Moscow, and hundreds — or thousands — were arrested.
Navalny is now in jail.
Navalny is now dead.
Life has never been easy for critics of Vladimir Putin. There are 30 names in this review, which is not comprehensive. They died in different (and odd) ways and different places, but all were known to have fallen out of favor with the boss. Think of them and the circumstances of their lives as well as their deaths.
Just last week, Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov was found in a parking lot in Kiev with five bullets in him. In August, he had defected to Ukraine with a Russian Mi-8 helicopter.
Also in August, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died when his airplane was struck by a missile, and General Gennady Lopyrev, once a Putin confidant, died in a military jail, where he had been sent in 2017. Just before his parole, he became ill — gasping for breath — and was told by doctors he had previously undiagnosed leukemia; then he died. Col-Gen Gennady Zhidko led the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but was removed in disgrace in October 2022, and essentially disappeared. His death was announced in August.
Dmitri Pavochka, former manager of Roscosmos, burned to death after falling asleep with a lit cigarette. Magomed Abdulaev, Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Dagestan, was victim of a hit and run. Alexander Nikolayev of Rosatom and a former diplomat, was beaten to death.
Marina Yankina, head of the financial support department of the Ministry of Defense for the Western Military district, fell out a 16th story window. Windows were problematic for:
Federal Judge Artyom Bartenev
Kristina Baikova, Vice president of Loko-Bank
Lukoil chairman Ravil Manganov
Pavel Antonov, richest deputy of the Russian Duma — and Putin critic
Semyon Korobeinikov — a clothing salesman — who “lost his footing” on a balcony. Later it emerged that he had been a co-conspirator in a bank fraud case that might have required him to testify against a mob boss friend of Putin.
Nicolai Gorokhov (2017), a witness for the US government in the investigation of Serge Magnitsky’s death, fell 50 feet out a window “while installing a hot tub.” “The balcony fell off,” the Russian government said.
Dan Rapoport, a Latvian-born US citizen, fell out of the window of a luxury apartment building in Washington, D.C. [Rapoport was the second Putin critic to die in Washington. Mikhail Y. Lesin, 57, who helped create the Kremlin’s global English-language Russia Today television network, was found dead in a hotel in 2016.]
It wasn’t only windows. In 2022, Ivan Pechorin, 39, Putin’s hand-selected managing director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEADC), fell off his yacht. [Andrei Fomin, Prosecutor of Chuvashia, drowned in the same area almost a year later.] Igor Nosov, CEO of FEADC died, reportedly, of a stroke.
The death of Igor Shkurko, deputy general director of Russian energy company Yakutskenergo in pretrial detention, accused of bribery, and that of 92-year-old Grigory Klinishov, the father of Russia’s thermonuclear bomb, were ruled suicides. As was the death of Major General (ret.) Yevgeny Lobachev, of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
The former Deputy Chairman of Novatek, was found hanged from a handrail. His wife and daughter were stabbed to death. Businessman Mikhail Watford was found dead at his home in England, while another businessman — Vladimir Bidenov — died in India after hitting his head on a railing.
No explanation was given for the death of Aleksandr Buzakov, head of Russia’s “admiralty shipyards.” Aleksey Maslov, former chief of Russian Ground Forces died “unexpectedly” in a military hospital.
There is more.
Putin critic and lawmaker Denis Voronenkov (2017), Boris Nemtsov (2015), human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov (2009), journalists Anastasiya Baburova (2009), Natalia Estemirova (2009), Anna Politkovskaya (2005), and Paul Klebnikov (2004), and politician Sergei Yushenkov (2003) were all shot.
Human Rights lawyer Sergei Magnitsky (2009) died in police custody after being beaten and denied treatment. Yevgeny Khamaganov (2017) editor-in-chief of Asia-Russia Daily died in unexplained circumstances that resulted in a coma. Putin critic Nikolai Andrushchenko (2018) died of a severe beating — his third in a few months. He had told friends that he’d survived a previous attempt to poison him.
Britain is only barely safer. Boris Berezovsky (2013), after a falling out with Putin, left for London. He was found dead in his bath in a locked bathroom with a noose around his neck. A British coroner did not determine the cause of death. Yuri Shchekochikhin (2003) had what official reports called a “rare allergic reaction” to “something.” His family believed he had previously been poisoned and this time it killed him. Alexander Litvinenko (2006) drank radioactive tea in Britain. British coroners found nothing unusual in Alexander Perepilichny (2012) dropping dead on a jog. It might have been “bad sushi” they suggested. Later, an insurance company scientist uncovered traces of a toxic plant in his stomach.
The chilling effect of killing political dissents goes beyond the tragic loss of lives of individuals fighting for better governance or their compatriot’s freedom. It serves as strategic move to deepen the veneer of inevitability surrounding the kleptocratic rule of President Putin, both at home and abroad.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post The World Must Care About Murdered Russian Dissidents first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.