THE former prime minister of an oil-rich Russian region has died after he was rammed by a car while crossing a street.
Magomed Abdulayev, 61, is the latest of a string of elite figures close to Vladimir Putin's regime to die in mysterious circumstances in recent weeks.
Abdulayev, a close ally of Putin puppet Dmitry Medvedev, was was hit by a Niva car in Makhachkala city on the Caspian Sea.
He was taken to hospital but died from severe injuries.
He had been crossing Gadzhiev Street at an unauthorised point, said reports.
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It was not disclosed whether the driver, reported to be aged 55, was detained or questioned by police.
Abdulayev was premier of the oil-rich Dagestan region from 2010 to 2013, and was appointed when Medvedev was nominally in charge at the Kremlin.
They had known each other since they were graduate students at St Petersburg State University, say reports.
Former PM Medvedev, 57, swapped jobs to become president for one term in a move widely seen as a ruse to allow Putin to stay in power.
Now deputy to Putin on Russia’s security council, he has been called the tyrant's closest political ally, heading his United Russia party.
He is a also bellicose blogger and cheerleader for the Ukraine war.
Ukraine immediately drew a link between Abdulayev's accident and a succession of other Russian deaths in the past year.
A Telegram channel run by Ukraine government official Anton Geraschenko said: "Another mysterious death of a Russian official.
“A car knocked down the ex-premier of Dagestan in Makhachkala, killing him.
“The Russian media report that Magomed Abdulayev, 61, became the victim of a car collision when he crossed the road in the wrong place.”
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At least nine tycoons and industry figures linked to the regime died in suspicious circumstances from February to September.
And another four members of Russia's scientific and military elite died in the days either side of Christmas.
The latest was one of Putin's top space engineers, Vladimir Nesterov, who died suddenly aged 74.
He designed Russia's Angara rocket pads, said to be the best the world, and made Putin's dreams of space exploration possible.
His cause of death was not revealed.
But he had been under a cloud of suspicion accused of massive embezzlement.
On Christmas Day, a Russian tank boss died just hours after a scheduled meeting with Putin.
General Alexei Maslov, 69, suddenly fell ill and died just after Putin axed a visit to the tank firm where he worked in Uralvagonzavod.
Maslov was the former head of the Russian ground forces and an ex-ambassador to Nato - and was reportedly not known to have any health problems before his sudden death.
Putin then suddenly cancelled his visit even as his convoy was in place and the roads had been cleared of snow.
Just days earlier, one of Russia's top naval chiefs also died suddenly aged 65.
Alexander Buzakov was the general director of the Admiralty shipyards in St Petersburg, in charge of building new submarines for Russia.
His death was described as "sudden, untimely and tragic".
And just days before, a wealthy Putin critic, also 65, was found dead in mysterious circumstances.
Multimillionaire Pavel Antov fell from a hotel window in India where he was travelling for a birthday holiday trip.
Previously listed as Russia's richest elected politician in 2019, he had slammed the blitz of Ukraine as "terror", and was one of the most high-profile Russian critics of the invasion.
Indian media reported that the sausage tycoon jumped from the roof.
But Russian consul general in India, Alexei Idamkin, insisted he had fallen from a window, just days before his 66th birthday.
His death followed that of another member of his party, 61-year-old Vladimir Budanov, who also passed away in India last week.
Budanov is said to have died from a heart attack last Thursday.
