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Not all are dealt with "unceremoniously." See Alexander Litvinenko[0], who was not only poisoned but in such a way that there was no plausible deniability for F

• arethuza 6y ago
  Also Sergei Skripal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Skripal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Skripal Using WMD to take out a single person does indeed seem like making a political statement.
  • meowface 6y ago
    And if the choice of murder weapon didn't make it glaringly obvious enough, Putin has all but publicly admitted to these, as well: >"Traitors will kick the bucket, believe me. Those other folks betrayed their friends, their brother in arms." [0] >"Whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them.” [0] >"Treason is the gravest crime possible and traitors must be punished. I am not saying the Salisbury incident is the way to do it, but traitors must be punished." [1] They cloak themselves with plausible deniability in many cases, but for turncoat intelligence personnel, they seem pretty explicit: at some point, no matter where you are, you will die an untimely, slow, painful death. It's definitely an attempted deterrent. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-traitors-kick-bucket-sergei-skripal-latest-video-30-pieces-silver-a8243206.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-put... [1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/vladimir-putin-theresa-may-skripal-g20-summit-japan-salisbury-attack-a8978786.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/vladimir-puti...
  • huhtenberg 6y ago
    It's a rather confusing statement though since Skripal survived this WMD attack.
    • arethuza 6y ago
      OK perhaps that should have been "attempt to take out" but I don't think you use nerve gas for anything other than trying to kill people?
  • etc-hosts 6y ago
    The culture of the Soviet and Russian intelligence agencies is to severely and publicly punish traitors.