‘They spoil his sport’:
a political analyst explains why Putin has undesirable people killed :
All those who fell victim to the Russian secret services have, in one way or another, stood in Russia’s way, and therefore in Putin’s way, for the latter, in a typically dictatorial manner, identifies himself with the country.
Igor Eidman is convinced that murder attempts target specifically those people whom Putin personally hates. Putin has those people removed: people who stand in his way and in the way of his Russia (for Putin, like any dictator, identifies himself with the entire country). The latest (but not the last) in the list of the regime’s victims is Petr Verzilov. German medics issued an official statement, confirming that Verzilov has been poisoned. One must recall that, from the earliest Soviet times, political killings have always been sanctioned by the heads of State personally, so says Russian sociologist and political analyst Igor Eidman.
‘Stalin personally ordered to kill Trotsky, Mikhoels, Konovalts. Sudoplatov writes in his memoirs, that the sanction to kill Bishop Theodor (Romzhi) was also obtained by Khrushchev from Stalin himself. There is every reason to believe that this tradition has endured: that the orders to kill Litvinenko, Nemtsov, Voronenkov, to poison Kara-Murza Jr., the Skripals, Verzilov and others, were personally issued by Putin. What do those people have in common? They have managed to infuriate the dictator’, so writes Eidman on his Facebook page.
‘Nemtsov used the foulest language against him in live broadcasts. Kara-Murza was an “informer” working against Putin for the Americans. Litvinenko, Voronenkov and Skripal were “traitors” to the secret service of their country. Verzilov may have sent Putin into a rage by his brilliant performance during the World Cup final. He succeeded in downplaying the grandeur of the pompous event, which, quite possibly, spoiled Putin’s fun. I am sure that the dictator was furious in front of “such insolence”. And so he decided to punish him.’ This is how Eidman explains the motives for several resounding assassinations and attempted murders.
Eidman also listed some of those who might, plausibly, be the next in line for the Kremlin’s killers.
‘1. Bill Browder. Putin hates him. This is, in fact, “the Trotsky our day”. The most active critic of the Kremlin in the West. I am sure that the dictator would have had him killed long ago, but doing it “neatly”, as with Berezovsky, is not so easy; and he would not do it in a “dirty way”, for fear of mega-scandal. Quite possibly the Russian secret services are merely waiting for a suitable occasion to remove Browder… 2. Aleksei Navalny. “This character” is clearly hated by Putin, too. Unlike Browder, Navalny is an easy target, but having him murdered may lead to unforeseen consequences, including a radical conflict between the state powers and the younger citizens. But Putin may very well decide one day that Navalny has crossed a red line, and that killing him is more comfortable than having him imprisoned for a long time… 3. Banker Sergei Pugachev. For Putin, Pugachev is a traitor. He was once part of Putin’s closer circle, and is now revealing their former secrets to the Western media’, Eidman writes.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found in Salisbury, England, on the 4th of March, with symptoms indicating poisoning. The British authorities declared that the Skripals were poisoned with a substance called ‘Novichok’, developed in Russia. Moscow denies accusations of attempted murder.