Russian tycoon’s mystery death after criticism of Putin’s war in Ukraine

A millionaire Russian politician has been found dead after publicly criticising Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

A Russian politician who publicly criticised President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has been found dead.

Multi-millionaire Pavel Antov was celebrating his upcoming 66th birthday on holiday when he mysteriously fell from a hotel in India, with Russia’s consul general Alexei Idamkin saying he fell from a window, The Sun reports.

Mr Antov, listed as Russia’s richest elected politician in 2019, was found in a pool of blood in Rayagada, in the east of India, two days after another friend in his party died.

Vladimir Budanov, 61, is said to have died from a heart attack on Thursday.

In June, Mr Antov slammed missile strikes on Ukraine, saying: “A girl has been pulled out from under the rubble, the girl’s father appears to have died.

“The mother is being pulled out with a crane – she is trapped under a slab. To tell the truth, it is extremely difficult to call this anything other than terror.”

Pavel Antov has been found dead on holiday. Picture: Twitter

But he soon U-turned, deleting his social media post and issued a grovelling apology. He blamed the post on an “unfortunate misunderstanding” and a technical error.

In September, another Putin critic was found suspiciously dead after an alleged suicide.

Pavel Pchelnikov, 52, was found dead on the balcony of his apartment in Moscow.

And in August, nightclub tycoon Dan Rapoport, 52, also died in suspicious circumstances in the US.

The Putin critic apparently left a suicide note and money attached to his dog which he released into a park in Washington D.C.

Several critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin have been found dead in recent months. Picture: Sputnik/AFP

It comes after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed in a hopeful Christmas message: “We will create our own miracle.”

Mr Zelensky told his war-torn nation: “We are coming for our people, we will return freedom to all Ukrainian men and women.

“Let’s endure this winter because we know what we are fighting for.

“Wherever we are, we will be together today. We will not wait for a miracle. After all, we create it ourselves.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission