Russian "danse macabre" in Kalinka rhythm

As of February 2022, erstwhile Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a gruesome dance of death takes place in the Russian elite. Where political power, oil and gas money and military secrets cross, a wave of abrupt deaths and loud detentions emerged. The Independent reports that by 8 July 2025, Russian media reported more than 20 spectacular deaths of "systemically important" people. However, the Suspicious Russia-related Deaths base points to forty-five specified deaths, of which three-quarters are described as suicides or falls from a height. Defenestration became for the Kremlin what the NKVD Troikas were in the 1930s – a fast and convenient way to destruct people threatening the stableness of the government or knowing its dirty secrets.