Prosecuted After Criticizing Ukraine War in June
12 Russian Tycoons Die Mysteriously This Year
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Pavel Antov (65), owner of Russia's largest meat processing company and nicknamed the 'Sausage Tycoon,' suddenly died while traveling in India, drawing attention to the circumstances. Local police and Russian authorities announced it was an accidental fall, but considering his history of being prosecuted by Russian police after criticizing the Ukraine war, suspicions have been raised that he may have been deliberately eliminated by Russian authorities.
According to the British BBC on the 27th (local time), Pavel Antov died after falling from the third-floor window of a hotel in Odisha, eastern India, where he was on vacation. Local police reported that a friend who visited the hotel with Antov also died of a heart attack two days earlier. Indian police stated they are investigating the cause of the suspicious deaths and are focusing on the possibility that Antov and his friend died due to excessive drinking and drug use.
Vivekananda Sharma, the chief investigator of the case, said, "Antov may have committed suicide due to the stress caused by his friend's death." Alexey Idamkin of the Russian consulate in Kolkata also emphasized, "Local police have found no criminal elements in these tragic incidents."
However, inside and outside Russia, there are suspicions that Antov, who had previously criticized the Ukraine war, was eliminated by Russian authorities. Antov was the owner of Russia's largest meat processing company, Vladimir Standard, and a member of the State Duma representing the Vladimir region. He belonged to the United Russia party led by Russian President Vladimir Putin and was a well-connected figure in Russian political and business circles. According to Forbes in 2019, his assets amounted to $140 million (approximately 178 billion KRW), making him the wealthiest Russian parliamentarian.
In June, Antov posted on his WhatsApp account, a social networking service, that "Russia's missile strikes on Ukraine are 'terrorism,'" leading to charges for criticizing the Ukraine war. He explained that the post was made by mistake or error and denied writing the message, claiming support for Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. Since then, he has shown cooperation with authorities, including pledging loyalty to President Putin.
With his death, the number of Russian tycoons who have died under suspicious circumstances since the Ukraine war has risen to 12. Those who have died suspiciously so far were mainly critics of the Ukraine war or executives in the energy sector.
Earlier, on the 10th, Russian real estate tycoon Dmitry Zelenov died from a fall in Antibes, a city in the Riviera region of southern France. On September 10, Ivan Pechorin (39), executive director of the Russian Far East Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV), went missing after falling into the water while boating south of Vladivostok and was found dead two days later. On the 1st of the same month, Ravil Maganov (67), chairman of the board of Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil, died after falling from the sixth floor of a hospital in Moscow.
In February, Gazprom's finance executive Aleksandro Tulakov took his own life at home, and in April, Sergey Protosenya, former vice chairman of the liquefied natural gas company Novatek, killed his family at a villa in Spain before hanging himself. As these sudden deaths of Russian tycoons continue, suspicions of political purges by authorities are growing stronger.
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