Mass die-off of Russian diplomats
I saw dark murmurs about a pattern on Facebook a couple of days ago and wasn’t sure how well founded they were, but now that the Independent is murmuring…
When Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations died suddenly in New York last week, he became the sixth Russian diplomat to die unexpectedly since November, leaving internet conspiracy theorists trying to spot a pattern.
Vitaly Churkin, 64, was rushed to hospital from his office at Russia’s UN mission on 20 February, after becoming ill without warning on his way in to work.
It was initially reported that Mr Churkin may have suffered a heart attack, but following an autopsy medical examiners said the death required further study.
Media company Axios note that not only is Mr Churkin’s death unexplained, but it is also remarkably similar to the deaths of Russia’s Ambassador to India on 27 January, the country’s consul in Athens on 9 January, and a Russian diplomat in New York on US election day, 8 November.
Those three were also called heart attacks or, cryptically, the result of “brief illnesses.”
It could be just a meaningless cluster. On the other hand, Putin.
Two more diplomats died more clearly violent deaths in the same period: Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated by in Ankara at a photography exhibition on 19 December, and on the same day another diplomat, Petr Polshikov, was shot dead in his Moscow apartment.
Additionally, an ex-KGB chief, Oleg Erovinkin, who was suspected of helping a British spy draft a dossier on Donald Trump, was found dead in the back of his car on boxing day, 26 December. Mr Erovinkin also was an aide to former deputy prime minister Igor Sechin, who now heads up state-owned oil company Rosneft.
Meaningless cluster or Putin?
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1463003667051423/?type=3&theater
After watching Maddow last knight I was wondering about the disposition of that ambassador mentioned in the Steele dossier… supposedly he’s still alive but all things considered he’s probably living on borrowed time.
‘Heart attacks’ ? Perhaps induced by nerve gas. I can remember being amused by those naive commentators after the collapse of the Soviet Union, who thought that Russia would transform itself into a liberal capitalist democracy. The country has no democratic traditions whatsoever and has always been a kleptocracy, from the time of the Rus to the present day.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1464899036861886/?type=3&theater
It’s like the Russian version of Trump’s alleged watersports video. The fact that the idea is plausible on the face of it due to known and confirmed facts tells you how horrible the subject is, even if the specific rumor is untrue.
If memory serves, ‘…suffered a premature death’ was the preferred expression of the Stalinist regime. Oddly, ‘…owing to a 9mm bullet in the back of the head’ was always left out of the announcements.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1465057026846087/?type=3&theater
Dictators don’t usually put their enemies into cushy diplomatic posts. These have a tendency to be rewards for cronies, or henchmen. So my first impulse is to suspect a statistical cluster.
Still, there is a substantial subculture out there that won’t listen to ANY criticism of Putin. Its all a conspiracy to distract us from the ‘real’…. not sure what. Are they going to blame the Merchants of Death, or the Elders of Zion? All I know is that no bad news about Russia gets through.