January 1, Another Russian Tycoon Dies After Criticizing Putin

Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov, a known critic of President Vladimir Putin, has died after reportedly falling out of a window. The oligarch is the second Putin critic to die in a similar manner.

Russian media outlet TASS reported that Antov fell from a hotel window in Rayagada, India, a few days after celebrating his 65th birthday.

According to the BBC, a Russian man traveling with Antov died of a stroke at the same hotel just two days earlier. Police said the death of the man, Vladimir Budanov, had “depressed” Antov, the outlet reported.

The BBC reported that Alexei Idamkin, the Russian consul in Kolkata, told TASS that police did not see a “criminal element in these tragic events.” 

A WhatsApp message on Antov’s account from late last June called a Russian missile attack on a residential block in Kyiv an act of “terror,” the BBC reported.

The message was deleted and Antov posted on social media that he was a Putin supporter, a “patriot” of his country, and he supported the war, according to the BBC.

Antov insisted that the WhatsApp message came from someone whose opinion he vehemently disagreed with, and it had been posted accidentally, the BBC reported.

Antov was the second known critic of Putin to die after falling from a window.

In September, Russian oil magnate Ravil Maganov, 67, died after falling from a hospital window. He died after his company, Lukoil, released a statement expressing “deepest concerns” about the war in Ukraine.

Sources: Insider | BBC