One of Vladimir Putin’s adversaries was discovered dead with stab wounds while living in exile in Turkey.
Abakar Abakarov, aged 49, was wanted internationally by Russia, accused of provoking anti-government unrest in Dagestan. President Putin had previously alleged that Ukraine and Western intelligence were attempting to incite violence in Russia in 2023. Abakarov, associated with the anti-Kremlin Telegram channel Morning Dagestan, was linked by Russian authorities to these accusations. He had sought refuge in Turkey under an assumed identity to evade potential Russian assailants.
The body of the Putin critic was found in a rented residence in Istanbul by a cleaning staff member. A Russian outlet, connected to the nation’s security service, reported that he succumbed to multiple stab wounds.
Abakarov had been missing for over a week before his deceased body was located. While Turkish authorities initiated an inquiry, they have refrained from commenting on the matter.
In October 2023, a violent anti-Semitic mob staged an uprising at Makhachkala airport in Dagestan, threatening to harm Jewish individuals as a plane from Tel-Aviv landed.
More than 20 individuals, including nine police officers, sustained injuries during the clashes. The Russian FSB security agency had been pursuing Abakarov for his involvement in the unrest and anti-Putin activities.
During that period, Putin expressed outrage, stating that the events in Makhachkala were influenced, in part, by social media networks, with involvement from Ukraine and Western intelligence agencies. Abakarov was known to be connected to former Russian MP Ilya Ponomarev, who is now a Ukrainian citizen and was also accused in absentia by Moscow for his role in the disturbances.
This enigmatic incident occurred in the same week when French law enforcement arrested a suspected group linked to Putin, accused of planning the assassination of Vladimir Osechkin, a 44-year-old human rights advocate in exile. Osechkin has exposed cases of torture and brutality in Russian penitentiaries, particularly against opponents of the regime.
The suspects, aged between 26 and 38, were apprehended near Biarritz, where Osechkin resides. They hailed from the same region in Dagestan as Abakarov.
Osechkin became a target of Moscow after revealing instances of rape and sexual abuse in Putin’s prisons and asserting that Alexei Navalny had been mistreated before his demise in an Arctic detention facility.
The Moscow critic expressed gratitude to the French police for apprehending the suspected assassins, highlighting the importance of their actions in thwarting alleged plots orchestrated by Putin’s regime in Europe, particularly in France.
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