Pavel Antov
(Picture: Twitter)A Russian politician who was accused of criticizing the war in Ukraine as an act of terror has been found dead after a mysterious fall from a hotel in India.
Pavel Antov, of the main pro-Putin party United Russia, was on a trip to celebrate his upcoming 66th birthday.
A male friend in his party had reportdly died from a heart attack only last Thursday.
Nearly 25 Russian businessmen have met their end during 2022 in what some have suggested is a suspicious pattern.
Indian media said Antov jumped from a hotel roof in Rayagada, 500 miles from Kolkata. But Russian consul general in Kolkata, Alexei Idamkin, told news agency Tass he fell out of a window.
Antov was the founder of Vladimir Standard, a major meat producer, and had a declared annual income of just under £130million.
In July, he posted a story on his WhatsApp messaging app, criticising Russia’s missile attacks on Kyiv as “terrorism”.
He was referring to reports of a girl that had been pulled from rubble after her house had been shelled.
Shortly afterwards, Antov apologised for the post and said it had been posted by someone else. He said he was "a supporter of the president and my country’s patriot" and "shared the goals" of the Kremlin’s invasion.
Alexei Idamkin, Russia’s consul general in Calcutta, told the Tass news agency that there was no foul play in the lawmaker’s death.
