Why Russia Keeps Poisoning People

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Why Russia Keeps Poisoning People
Amy Mackinnon

On Sunday morning, a leading Russian opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, was taken to the hospital after developing an allergic reaction that one of his doctors said could have been caused by an unknown chemical substance.

The news caused instant alarm in a country with a long history of poisoning dissidents and defectors. The fact that people were so quick to point their fingers at the Russian authorities is testament to the sheer number of Kremlin critics who have fallen ill, and even died, after coming into contact with mysterious chemical substances. And it raised more than a few questions about what the Kremlin is really up to, if it indeed is behind all these incidents.

Why does this keep happening?

One possible explanation is that poisoning leaves the Kremlin a veneer of plausible deniability, even as it makes a great impact on public sensibilities, said Mark Galeotti, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. “One of poison’s great virtues for the politically minded murderer is their capacity to combine easy deniability and vicious theatricality. Even while the murderer denies any role, perhaps with a sly wink, the victim dies a horrific and often lengthy death. A message in a poison bottle,” he said.

Read more at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/01/why-russia-keeps-poisoning-people-navalny-suspected-illness-protests-moscow/