Russian elite living in fear as Putin purges take bloody toll

12 comments

1. ***The Telegraph reports:***

   Dead by suicide. Detained on a private jet. Sentenced to more than a decade in prison.

   It has long been a cut-throat world for the Russian elite, but the recent spate of blood-letting – both literal and figurative – has shocked serving and former government officials, who spoke with The Telegraph anonymously amid fear of reprisals.

   People who might once have been seen as untouchable, either through their political connections or loyalty to Vladimir Putin, have found themselves out of favour, out of office and, on occasion, [falling out of windows](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/07/russian-anti-war-singer-dies-after-falling-from-window/).

   The [war in Ukraine](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/russia-ukraine-war/) has upended the status quo, with the Kremlin nationalising businesses to plug its coffers while corporate “raiders” compete ever more violently for a shrinking piece of the pie.

   “It all looks horrifying,” said a former official from the Russian presidential administration. “If you look at the recent arrest of top state company executives, the mysterious deaths, people in government and politics are, pardon my French, s—-ing themselves.”

   In July alone, Andrei Badalov, the vice-president of state-owned pipeline company Transneft, fell to his death from a balcony at his home. A former deputy defence minister was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on charges of corruption, only for a fellow military official to go down for 17.

   Meanwhile, state security drove the nationalisation of the country’s largest airport, taking it from the hands of owners with dual citizenship, while the Bombardier jet of billionaire gold tycoon Konstantin Strukov was boarded to prevent him from fleeing the country.

   **Full story:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/22/oligarchs-living-in-fear-as-putin-purges-take-bloody-toll/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/22/oligarchs-living-in-fear-as-putin-purges-take-bloody-toll/)

2. *The window falling will continue until morale improves*

3. Live by the sword and all that.

4. Putin shows what real power looks like and that they never really owned a single thing. 

   Putin probably never goes near windows himself too 😄

5. Haha

6. Maybe, but it’s a golden age for glaziers.

7. Bet bungalow sales are going through the roof 😁

8. A little off topic but I read science papers and journalism all the time and the horrifying weapons and divisive hybrid warfare that is in plain sight makes me shit scared of the ahit we cannot see

9. Nationalization of their businesses and assets is an obvious way to keep Putin’s fiasco of a war going.

10. Wait until Putin is dead and then see what living in fear is like.

11. I don’t get it thought just because a CEO dies doesn’t mean the company is just there to be nationalized. Isn’t there a board of directors etc? I guess it makes it easier if the owner is dead to force the nationalisation, but in a fascist regime I would think they can just nationalise without necessary killing

12. The oligarchs may want to kill putin now. The oligarchs are already unhappy because of the direction that the russian economy has taken.

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