The shadow war has claimed another life. A prominent critic of Vladimir Putin was assassinated in Poland today, a brazen act that signals a new, more dangerous phase in the Kremlin's campaign of extrajudicial violence. The victim, a former Russian oligarch turned dissident, was gunned down in broad daylight outside his home in Warsaw.
Polish authorities have confirmed the killing and are treating it as a targeted assassination. While no group has claimed responsibility, the modus operandi matches the pattern of previous attacks linked to Russian intelligence. This is not a single act of terror but a systematic strategy: the silencing of voices that threaten the regime's narrative, regardless of borders.
For years, Putin's critics have been hunted, poisoned, or jailed at home. Now, the hunt has gone global. The assassination in Poland is a chilling reminder that digital sovereignty and physical safety are intertwined.
In an age where information flows freely, autocrats have realised that the most effective censorship is a bullet. The European Union must respond not just with sanctions but with a unified intelligence framework to protect dissidents on its soil. The user experience of democracy now includes a threat of state-sponsored violence.
We must build systems that anticipate and neutralize these threats, or risk a world where every critic is a target.
