Putin’s 9 lives: How despot has escaped a number of assassination makes an attempt

An object, something like a UFO, flies towards the Kremlin and explodes. Another follows shot down by Russian defence methods. The footage, taken final week on Red Square, despatched shockwaves all over the world and thru Russia: how might what gave the impression to be two remote-controlled drones enter one of many world’s most closely fortified cities?

Soon after, Russia claimed the drones had been the property of Ukraine and that President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s forces had been attempting to assassinate Vladimir Putin. It later pinned the blame on the US.

Analysts and Russia watchers notice that Putin is thought to not keep within the Kremlin in a single day, so the pilot is unlikely to have had that aim in thoughts. Some say the drones had been the work of Russia: a false flag mission meant to gas propaganda and act as a justification for retaliation.

One week on, the solutions nonetheless aren’t clear. What we all know is that Putin is at present one of many world’s ‘most needed’ males — an ICC warrant out with his name on it — a title he appears to have carried with him ever since he first took workplace again in 1999.

While the quantity is extensively disagreed on, round 5 makes an attempt on Putin’s life have been recorded because the flip of the century. Here, Express.co.uk takes a have a look at the moments that might’ve modified historical past.

READ MORE: Life inside Putin’s Russia as told by a Moscow native

Back with a vengeance

In 2002, Putin carried out a state go to to Azerbaijan, a rustic which little greater than a decade earlier had been part of the Soviet Union.

Surrounded by an entourage, little did the newly elected President know {that a} group of Iraqi males had been plotting to kill him.

One man and an confederate had been arrested after the plan to detonate explosives close to Putin was foiled.

The two had been sentenced to 10 years in jail, their identities by no means revealed.

They are stated to have had affiliations with teams in Afghanistan and Chechnya — the latter enduring an advanced and embittered relationship with Russia due to the brutal Chechen-Russo wars.

‘I’m the President of Russia — not him!’

Attempt quantity two got here only one month after the Azerbaijan incident.

In November 2002, a person drove close to the grounds of the Kremlin, acquired out of his automobile, and spoke to safety guards on shift.

He instructed them: “My identify is Ivan Zaitsev. I’m the President of Russia. Now take me to Vladimir Putin!”

He was despatched to an area hospital for an analysis of his psychological state and later launched. But, by the top of the yr, the thriller man is claimed to have had a hand within the assassination try.

It got here simply as Putin was scheduled to drive on a Moscow motorway.

Along the street, 40kg of explosives had been discovered, set to detonate within the space the place Putin meant to drive. The detonation crew arrived and unpacked the gear. Putin lived on.

Britain Foils Plot on Putin

In October 2003, British anti-terror police foiled a plan hatched by two former KGB males to kill Putin throughout a go to to the UK.

A weird story, Alexander Litvinenko, himself a former KGB agent who was poisoned by, it’s believed, the Putin regime, alerted UK authorities to the try after talking with an unidentified Russian man.

The alleged plot during which Putin was to be shot useless by a sniper was uncovered by Scotland Yard after the tip-off from Mr Litvinenko.

He stated he had had telephone name conversations with the person and had met at a prearranged assembly on a bench exterior a noodle restaurant in Leicester Square. Mr Litvinenko claimed the person stated Putin wanted to be “toppled” and “overthrown”.

The two unidentified males in query had arrived from Moscow and booked into the Hilton Metropole Hotel the identical month they had been arrested.

One of the lads instructed Mr Litvinenko that Chechen separatists would perform the assassination. They had been later launched on situation they returned to Moscow instantly.

Public Schoolboy

The following alleged assassination plot took virtually ten years to return to gentle and concerned a former non-public schoolboy who studied in Britain.

In 2013, Adam Osmayev, a Chechen, was arrested and charged over an alleged plot to assassinate Putin in an assault on his motorcade. While the European Court of Human Rights halted his extradition to Russia, he was jailed in Ukraine for 2 years for being in possession of unlawful explosives.

Mr Osmayev and his spouse Amina Okuyeva had been members of a voluntary battalion that fought in opposition to pro-Russian separatists in japanese Ukraine.

In 2017, the pair had been ambushed whereas driving on a railway crossing close to Kyiv, Ukraine‘s capital. Mrs Okuyeva was shot useless whereas Mr Osmayev was wounded.

Their assailant was later recognized as a Chechen-born Russian who shot Mr Osmayev twice however died after Mrs Okuyeva opened fireplace on him.

After being captured, Mr Osmayev appeared in a Russian-supervised confession video, during which he stated: “Our goal was to go to Moscow and try to kill Prime Minister Putin… Our deadline was after the Russian presidential election.”

Mr Osmayev had studied at an elite non-public college close to Stroud within the late Nineties.

Up in Smoke

In September 2022, Putin was the sufferer of one other alleged assassination try after his limousine went up in smoke.

The entrance wheel was hit by a “loud bang from the left front wheel followed by heavy smoke”. The Russian President, nonetheless, rapidly escaped the automobile safely.

Telegram channel General SVR, which claims to be owned by an insider within the Kremlin and infrequently leaks particulars about life on the coronary heart of Russian politics, stated the President was returning to his official residence in a decoy or “backup” motorcade.

It was protected by 5 armoured vehicles, with Putin within the third, the channel claimed.