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Russian tycoon and travel companion found dead in Indian hotel a few days apart

Pavel Antov is the latest Russian magnate to die under mysterious circumstances since the Ukraine war and previously criticised the shelling of Kyiv as terrorism

Pavel Antov previously criticised the shelling of residentail areas in Kyiv as terrorism. Photograph shows Ukrainian servicemen walk along the Memorial Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian War in Kyiv on December 28th, 2022. Photograph: Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

Anushka Patil
Wed Dec 28 2022 - 11:46

A wealthy Russian businessman was found dead over the weekend in India, shortly after another Russian national he was travelling with died at the same hotel.

The two men, Pavel Antov and Vladimir Budanov, were part of a tourist group visiting the Indian state of Odisha.

Budanov (61) died of an apparent heart problem late last week in their hotel in the Rayagada district, a local police superintendent told the news agency Asian News International, adding that Antov appeared to be depressed after Budanov’s death.

Other local media outlets, citing police, reported that Antov was found lying in a pool of blood outside the hotel that weekend. He is believed to have fallen from a third-floor window, though police said they didn’t know if it was an accident or suicide.

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Antov, who had just turned 65, was the founder of the Russian meat conglomerate Vladimir Standard and a member of parliament in Vladimir oblast, east of Moscow. He topped the Forbes list of Russia’s richest civil servants in 2019 with a reported fortune of nearly 10 billion roubles, or over $140 million at Tuesday’s exchange rate.

The vice speaker of the regional parliament, Vyacheslav Kartukhin, said Antov’s death was the result of tragic circumstances, the Russian state news agency TASS reported. The parliament’s speaker, Vladimir Kiselyov, described Antov as a man who won everyone over.

[ Ukrainian city of Kherson suffers heavy Russian bombardment ]

Odisha state police said Tuesday that the inquiry into the deaths of two Russians would be handled by the Crime Investigation Department, a specialised branch of the police.

The Russian consul general in Kolkata confirmed the two deaths to TASS on Monday and said local police did not suspect a crime.

Antov is the latest Russian magnate to die under mysterious circumstances since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Russian media reported in June that he had criticised the shelling of residential areas in Kyiv as terrorism, though he later appeared to recant his statement. A post under his name on the Russian social media platform VKontakte said the original message was shared in error and emphasised that Antov was a patriot and a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Other prominent Russian businessmen who have died suddenly in recent months include the chairman of Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, which had called for an end to the war. State media said the executive, Ravil Maganov, fell from a sixth-floor hospital window in September. – The article was first published in the New York Times

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