Pavel Antov: Russian sausage tycoon dies after falling from hotel in India

Odisha police ordered its crime department to take over the investigation into the “unnatural loss of life of two Russian nationals” in Rayagada, the police division tweeted Tuesday.

Police Superintendent Vivekananda Sharma mentioned Bidenov had suffered a stroke, whereas Antov “was depressed after [Bidenov’s] loss of life and he too died,” the BBC reported. Police informed Indian media that Antov’s loss of life gave the impression to be a suicide.

The Russian Embassy in Delhi confirmed the deaths to Russian media. “The Consulate Basic of Russia in Kolkata is following the case in contact with native authorities,” Russian information outlet RT India quoted the embassy as saying. “Based on info out there to the police, no felony facet is seen.”

Antov established the Vladimir Commonplace meat processing plant and amassed a fortune — estimated at about $140 million in 2019 — that landed him on Forbes’s list of Russia’s richest lawmakers and civil servants.

He additionally served within the legislative meeting of the Vladimir area, neighboring Moscow, the place he was a member of Putin’s United Russia social gathering and chaired the committee on agrarian coverage, nature administration and ecology.

In June, Antov appeared to criticize a Russian missile assault on a residential block of Kyiv, Ukraine, that killed a person and injured his 7-year-old daughter and her mom, in accordance with the BBC. A WhatsApp message on Antov’s account mentioned of the incident: “It’s extraordinarily tough to name all this something however terror.”

The message was later deleted and Antov posted on social media that he supported Putin and his invasion. He chalked up the earlier post to “a particularly unlucky misunderstanding” through which he had unintentionally posted a message from an individual with whom he disagreed.

Antov’s colleagues within the legislature shared messages of condolences after information of his loss of life was introduced. Vyacheslav Kartukhin, the vice speaker of the regional legislature, wrote on Telegram that he expressed his condolences to Antov’s household and pals on behalf of the United Russia bloc, after Antov died “because of tragic circumstances.”

“We valued him for each his professionalism and his private qualities — he was delicate, clever, he was respectful to all. An erudite man with a broad outlook, he gained over all people. For the legislative meeting, for the entire of Vladimir area, the passing of Pavel Genrikhovich Anton is a tough and irreparable loss,” meeting speaker Vladimir Kiselyov mentioned in a press release, according to Russian news agency Tass.

Antov celebrated his sixty fifth birthday in India on Dec. 22, Tass reported.

His loss of life is the most recent incident this yr involving Russian tycoons and high-profile oil and fuel executives. It follows a string of murky and unexplained deaths for the reason that starting of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.

In September, the chairman of Russian oil firm Lukoil, 67-year-old Ravil Maganov, died after reportedly falling from a window of a Moscow hospital, the place he was present process remedy after struggling a cardiac arrest. On the time, conflicting experiences had been printed in Russian media and it was not clear whether or not Maganov’s loss of life was the results of suicide, an accident or one thing extra sinister.

Within the first weeks of the invasion, Lukoil made headlines as the one Russian oil producer that referred to as for an finish to the conflict in Ukraine. In a statement issued simply days after the Feb. 24 invasion, Lukoil expressed “concern over the continued tragic occasions in Ukraine” and referred to as for “the quick cessation of the armed battle.”

In April, the physique of Sergey Protosenya, a former high supervisor of fuel big Novatek, was discovered at a Spanish villa alongside these of his spouse and their 18-year-old daughter. Spanish information outlet Telecinco reported that police discovered the mom and the daughter in separate rooms with stab wounds. Protosenya was discovered within the yard, the place he had reportedly hanged himself.

The identical month, Vladislav Avayev, a former vp of Gazprombank, was equally discovered useless in his Moscow condo alongside his spouse and daughter.

Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.