The poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 4 was just the the latest example in which Moscow has been blamed for strange maladies, and sometimes violent deaths, among Russians and their associates. After the attack on Mr. Skripal, Britain's counter-terrorism police announced that they would take another look at 14 mysterious deaths of Russian exiles. Here's a look at some of those cases.
1. Alexander Litvinenko, 2006
Who he was: Mr. Litvinenko was a former KGB agent who fled to Britain in 2000. He was an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
How he died: In November, 2006, Mr. Litvinenko was hospitalized with a mysterious illness shortly after meeting with two former KGB agents at London's Millennium Hotel. He died three weeks later. British investigations learned the men had poisoned his tea with a radioactive isotope, polonium-210. A British inquest concluded in 2016 that Mr. Putin had "probably approved" the killing.
2. Arkady (Badri) Patarkatsishvili, 2008
Who he was: Mr. Patarkatsishvili made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, but became persona non grata in his native Georgia in the late 2000s after contesting the presidential election against his former ally Mikheil Saakashvili. Georgian authorities accused him of plotting a coup against Mr. Saakashvili.
How he died: Mr. Patarkatsishvili collapsed at his home on Feb. 12, 2008. Authorities investigated the death as suspicious but later ruled it heart failure.
3. Alexander Perepilichnyy, 2012
Who he was: Before his death, the Russian businessman was a whistle-blower helping a U.K.-based investment firm investigate a Russian money-laundering operation. He had documents showing money being funnelled into Swiss bank accounts in a tax-fraud.
How he died: On Nov. 10, 2012, the 44-year-old Mr. Perepilichnyy – who had recently returned from a trip to Paris – was found dead after he went for a run outside his Surrey home. Initial autopsies proved inconclusive, but later tests found traces in his stomach of gelsemium, a poisonous plant. French police are now zeroing in on the possibility that the Mr. Perepilichnyy was poisoned during his Paris visit. The Paris prosecutor's office is pursuing a case of "criminal conspiracy and assassination" related to Mr. Perepilichnyy's death, a source told The Globe and Mail.
4. Boris Berezovsky, 2013
Who he was: A billionaire Russian oligarch, Mr. Berezovsky was once a member of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin's inner circle who helped bring Mr. Putin to the presidency, but in the 2000s they had a falling-out and Mr. Berezovsky went into self-imposed British exile. He publicly blamed Moscow for the death of Mr. Litvinenko, who once claimed he received orders to kill Mr. Berezovsky.
How he died: Mr. Berezovsky, 67, was found dead in his bathroom in March, 2013, of an apparent hanging. The death fuelled speculation that Russian agents had killed him, or that he killed himself in distress over a court case. The coroner gave an open verdict, saying it was "impossible to say" what led to his death.
5. Scot Young, 2014
Who he was: Mr. Young was a Scottish real-estate developer who served as a fixer to Mr. Berezovsky in real-estate and money-laundering schemes, including the secretive and disastrous "Project Moscow" in 2006. Documents uncovered by BuzzFeed News in 2017 suggested Mr. Young's connections with Mr. Berezovsky and the other Project Moscow associates made him a target for Russia's security services and organized crime.
How he died: Mr. Young was found impaled on the railings outside his fourth-floor London apartment on Dec. 8, 2014. The coroner found insufficient evidence to rule it a suicide, and his ex-wife and children believe he was murdered.
Globe staff, with reports from Associated Press and Reuters
