Another strange death of a Russian tycoon who criticized Vladimir Putin: he fell from a hotel window

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, several politicians and tycoons who have criticized Vladimir Putin have died under mysterious circumstances. In the last few hours, Pavel Antov, a tycoon who was both a United Russia MP and a United Russia MP, has been added to the list. fell from the third floor of a hotel in India.

Antov, known as the king of sausages for his meat empire and who he had criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is the latest in a list of Moscow millionaires who died after the start of the war. So far the circumstances of those deaths range from falling out of a window, heart attacks, accidents while walking down a mountain and more.

A member of Putin’s United Russia party, Antov was traveling to India to celebrate his 66th birthday when he was found lying on the ground near the Sai International Hotel in Rayagada district of Odisha state under a large pool of blood.

Antov, the wealthiest deputy in the Duma – Russia’s parliament – was found dead on Saturday after falling from a window, UK newspaper Daily Mail reported.

In strange circumstances and Just two days earlier, one of the men traveling with him, Vladimir Budanov, died of a heart attack.according to the police report.

The Russian consul in Calcutta, Alexei Idamnkin, explained to the Tass agency that the politician and businessman had fallen from the window of a hotel in Rayagada. Indian media claim the tycoon jumped from the roof of a hotel. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

the billionaire he had criticized the war and the airstrikes against Kiev in Junecalling them Russian “terror” for hurting Ukrainian civilians.

In the midst of apologizing, according to the British newspaper, he insisted that he had “always” supported the president. and “sincerely” supported Putin’s military goals in Ukraine.

A police officer told Indian news NDTV he suspects Antov took his own life after falling into depression over the death of a friend, who was found dead in the same hotel surrounded by empty wine bottles.

antov he had been chairman of the agriculture commission during Putin’s term and the top-earning legislator in the country, according to Forbes magazine.

The owner of Russia’s largest oil company also fell out of a window

Ravil Maganov was the face of Russia’s largest oil company, Lukoil, and died at the end of last August in a suspicious episode, after falling from a window of Moscow’s central clinical hospital, in a case that the official media of the Kremlin have already classified it as suicide.

Maganov, 67, had been in hospital for a heart attack. He was the president of Lukoil and had worked since 1993 in the oil company in management positions.

He served as the first executive vice president and oversaw exploration and production. In 2020, the Lukoil board appointed Maganov as chairman to replace Valeri Greifer, who died in April of that year.

Maganov’s death has sparked all kinds of theories, especially considering that the company he ran had issued in March 2022 a communiqué that critically refers to the war.

On March 3, 10 days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lukoil issued a strong statement: “The LUKOIL board expresses its deep concern about the tragic events in Ukraine. Calling for the swift cessation of the armed conflict, we express our sincere empathy for all the victims affected by this tragedy. We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and resolution of issues through serious negotiation and diplomacy,” they wrote.

In its text, the company headed by Maganov emphasized this it would do “everything possible” to “continue its operations in all countries and regions where it is, committed to its core mission of being a reliable energy supplier to consumers around the world.”

Some Russian media have admitted the assumption that Maganov went to smoke in an unauthorized area of ​​the hospitalin which a balcony gave way and ended up falling over and he died as a result of the accident.

This was reported by Baza, a Telegram channel with good police sources, which indicated that the oil executive had gone out to smoke in a part of the building that was being repaired, more precisely on a balcony not intended for patients.

It was there when it fell on deaf ears. According to that site, they found a pack of cigarettes in one of the window frames. Another piece of information that addresses the incident line is that his wife was in the room next to the one she occupied and that she left no farewell notes. There are no security cameras at the location where the event occurred.

More deaths of Russian tycoons and politicians

The first death occurred on January 30, a few days before the start of the Russian invasion, in a country house in the Leningrad region, when Leonid Shulman (head of transport of the Gazprom company) was found lifeless in the bathroom of the room . Next to his body was a farewell note.

Since then, there have been at least a dozen Russian businessmen and lawmakers killed in mysterious circumstances, all of them, coincidentally, critics of the war on Ukraine.

Bill Browder, a businessman critical of the Putin government, said: “(Putin) has personally ordered the execution of all those high-level businessmen who refuse to accept him and intimidates his successors with reprisals “.