Russian Sausage Tycoon, whose WhatsApp Account Criticized Ukraine’s Invasion Dies in Fall From Hotel Window

Another Russian tycoon Someone who might have criticised the invasion of Ukraine died in mysterious circumstances.

Sausage magnate and politician Pavel Antov, who last summer denied being critical of the Kremlin, was found dead Sunday at a hotel in Rayagada, in India’s eastern state of Odisha, after apparently falling from a window. Antov was valued at $140 million. He was 65 years old and was celebrating his 65th Birthday.

Russian media reported that Antov’s pal, Vladimir Budanov, died of a stroke at the hotel on Friday. Odisha Police Superintendent Vivekananda Sharma said Antov “was depressed after [Budanov’s] death and he too died.” A representative from Russia’s consulate in Kolkata said that the Tass news agency does not believe there has been any criminal activity.

Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov dies in Indian hotel fall https://t.co/2S6vPM18ab

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 27, 2022

Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov dies in Indian hotel fall https://t.co/2S6vPM18ab

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 27, 2022

Sunil Kumar Bansal is an Odisha police official told the National Herald of India Both cases are currently under investigation. Antov could have accidentally fallen, or even committed suicide. However, police are also investigating other possible causes.

“We have registered an unnatural death case and are conducting an investigation,” He said. “The post-mortem has been done. The Russian authority in Kolkata is in touch with us. We are extending all support they want in this case.”

After a WhatsApp message was posted by Antov on June 2, Antov, a local politician from Vladimir, where he owns an animal processing plant, denied that he had criticised the invasion. Antov responded to the Russian missile attack on Kyiv by writing. “It’s extremely difficult to call all this anything but terror.”

Antov claimed that he was not a victim of the message deletion shortly afterward. “patriot of my country” He supported the war. He claimed that the message was written accidentally by someone else.

Antov is one of many high-profile Russian businessmen who have mysteriously died since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Newsweek has kept track The most notable deaths:

Ravil Maganov of Russian oil giant Lukoil fell from a window at Moscow’s hospital on Sept. 1. Police stated that they died from stab wounds. Vasily Melnikov, a billionaire oil and gas mogul, was also found dead in his Nizhny Novgorod apartment on March 24. Police said the oligarch had hanged himself.In December 2021, Yegor Prosvirnin—the founder of the nationalist website Sputnik Pogrom—died after falling out of a window of an apartment tower in Moscow.