Russian oligarch dies peacefully in his sleep of old age.
Mikhail Roguchev died peacefully in his sleep last Thursday evening surrounded by his family and the heavy iron chains he had fashioned to keep him from being thrown through a window...
Although I'd quibble about Newsweek defining this guy as an oligarch. He was vice president at a company that was disbanded due the company president's opposition to Putin. It's very possible this guy is just a former executive that refused to bend or hand over some dirt or something. It doesn't appear he fits the definition of oligarch at all.
Unless we're just using the word to refer to all Russians above peasant.
I always see people commenting on stories like this with things like "how does anyone actually believe that/think anyone will believe that?"
Well, that's exactly the point. It's not about the death being convincingly accidental. It's very much about sending a message to others.
You don't eliminate the competition and agitators with the exact same method of execution for 30+ years (with a few false-flag apartment bombings thrown in for good measure) and expect to keep things covert.
The only way they could make it more obvious is the "he hogtied himself, ate a cyanide capsule, jumped out the window and shot himself twice in the back of the head on the way down" trope.
Putin has been in power for 25 years. He arguably has more enemies than anyone else on the planet. I’d say the deterrent factor is pretty strong with this one.
It’s not perfect though. When you’re destroying your own country with the most disastrous war in living memory then you need stronger deterrents.