“Checkerboard cleansing”, or the Russian way to insouciant prominents

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the media has regularly reported mysterious deaths among representatives of Russian business elites and high-ranking officials and military officials. The scale of this phenomenon — even by Russian standards — is unheard of. They include military commanders, billionaires, oligarchs from the energy sector, prominent heads of companies and high-ranking government officials.