Dead Drop: February 23

VLAD THE AVENGER:  We didn’t need the death of Alexei Navalny from “sudden death syndrome” (the Russians really called it that) that those who cross Vladimir Putin meet untimely deaths. Not only is that the world’s worst kept secret – but Putin and pals seem anxious for everyone to know it. Russian streets are literally littered with Putin critics who suddenly fall out of windows and planes carrying troublesome folks like Yevgeny Prigozhin. Newsweekpublished what they called a “Full List of Putin Critics Who Have Died In Mysterious Circumstances” – but the list was anything but “full.” They just scratched the surface. Here is another noteworthy item. Back in September, The Dead Drop told you about Maxim Kuzminov, a 28-year-old Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine with his MI-8 and reportedly received an award from Kyiv of approximately $500,000. Now, the Russian news agency TASS is quoting “Spanish media” as saying Kuzminov was shot dead in Spain. Except, according to Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko, the “Spanish media” turn out to be a Russian Telegram channel pretending to be Spanish. Apparently, there WAS somebody shot in Spain – and initially other press accounts say it was a 33-year-old Ukrainian not the Russian defector. But Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian SVR said of Kuzminov that "This traitor and criminal became a moral corpse at the very moment when he planned his dirty and terrible crime." A spokesperson for Ukraine’s intelligence directorate confirmed that Kuzminov had died but did not explain how or where. It is unclear whether Vlad’s team got their man – or they just want you (and everyone else thinking of defecting) to believe they did.

SUDDEN PROMOTION SYNDROME:  It has been reported that Valery Boyarinev, the deputy director of Russia’s Federal Penal Correction Service, was promoted to the rank of Colonel-General just three days after Alexei Navalny was murdered in prison.  We’re sure that was just a coincidence.