Putin's purge

Oil magnate's fatal plummet part of Kremlin killing spree

- CHRIS HUGHES

THE Kremlin has escalated its bloody purge of Moscow's anti-war elite, bumping off VIPs in a bid to smash any opposition to Vladimir Putin's Ukraine invasion.

Fears among Putin's oligarchy have soared since the suspicious death this month of anti-war oil magnate Ravil Maganov, 67, amid claims he was beaten before "falling" to his death.

It is suspected to be the most high-profile and barely concealed murder of a tycoon who had publicly voiced his disapproval of the war.

Shortly after the invasion on February 24, Maganov's company Lukoil had expressed its "deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine and urged "the soonest termination of the armed conflict".