Russian sausage tycoon, Putin’s critic dies in Indian hotel

A Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov has been found dead on Sunday in an hotel located at Odisha, Indian.

Antov died two days after a friend lost his life during the same journey, according to BBC on Wednesday.

They were visiting the eastern state of Odisha and the millionaire, who was also a grassroot political leader had just celebrated his birthday at the hotel.

Antov was a popular figure in the city of Vladimir, east of Moscow.

He criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting war in Ukraine.

He later denied criticising Russia’s war after a message appeared on his WhatsApp account in June.

Antov’s demise was the latest in a chain of mysterious deaths involving Russian tycoons since the war began.

And many of the critics of Putin and the war were the victims.

Reports in Russian media said the 65-year-old had fallen from a window at the hotel in the city of Rayagada on Sunday.

Another member of his four-strong Russian group, Vladimir Budanov, died at the hotel on Friday.

Antov was the founder of Vladimir Standard meat processing plant.

In 2019, Forbes estimated his fortune at some $140m (£118m) at the top of Russia’s rich list of lawmakers and civil servants.

In September the head of Russia’s oil giant Lukoil and Putin’s critic, Ravil Maganov, apparently fell from a hospital window in Moscow.