On July 4, Russian security forces abruptly boarded a private jet on the tarmac of an airport in the Chelyabinsk region and reportedly arrested one of the country’s most powerful oligarchs, Konstantin Strukov, as he sought to leave the country. The same day, state media reported that Russian oil tycoon Andrey Badalov had plunged to his death from his luxury penthouse in a Moscow high-rise, with authorities preliminarily ruling the fall a suicide.
Detentions of prominent figures and suspicious deaths, including many once-powerful people who have fallen out of windows, are nothing new in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, but the pace of such occurrences is accelerating, suggesting something has changed. For whatever reason, Putin appears to have become more paranoid and may be tightening his grip on power. In addition, as the staggering costs of his war against Ukraine add up, exacerbated by harsh international economic sanctions, the Kremlin is stepping up implementation of a new funding method to help cover them: seizing assets from wealthy individuals, including longtime Putin loyalists.
Consider Strukov’s arrest. The day before the billionaire’s detention, investigators had raided the offices of his company, the gold producer Yuzhuralzoloto, accusing the firm of violating environmental and industry safety laws. The claims were clearly a pretext for what came almost simultaneously: a move by Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to confiscate all of Strukov’s shares, worth billions, and transfer them to state control.