Mystery Russian deaths likened to 'Stalinist purge'

THE SERIES of suspicious deaths involving high-profile industrialists and politicians shows how Vladimir Putin’s Russia sanctions the murder of those suspected of betraying it, experts warned last night.

- Marco Giannangeli

Moscow’s use of institutionalised assassination to settle scores is believed to have been behind the sudden death of 64-year-old Belarusian foreign minister Vladimir Makei last weekend.

Makei, the most Western-facing minister in dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s government, had advocated for Belarus to maintain its independence and neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict.

According to messages purportedly written by Russian intelligence officers on messaging service Telegram, Makei’s death “was planned, prepared and implemented on the personal initiative of Vladimir Putin” to intimidate an increasingly neutered and paranoid Lukashenko into breaking off secret negotiations with the West.