Russian sausage magnat falls to death from window

A Russian sausage magnate and politician who briefly criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has died after falling from the third-floor window of a luxury hotel in India.

Pavel Antov was a member of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and a multi-millionaire, having founded one of Russia’s largest sausage makers.

He was reportedly on a trip to celebrate his upcoming 66th birthday when he was found lying in a pool of blood outside the Hotel Sai International in Rayagada, a district in the southern state of Odisha, Telegraph reports.

An unnamed police official told India’s NDTV news outlet they suspected he took his own life after becoming depressed about the death of his friend who was found dead in the same hotel.

Vladimir Bidenov was found lying unconscious in his room on the first floor of the hotel on Thursday surrounded by empty wine bottles.
Mr Antov was chairman of the agriculture committee at the legislature in Russia’s Vladimir region and ranked the country’s highest-earning lawmaker by Russian Forbes, with a declared annual income of just under $157 million. He was the founder of Vladimir Standard, a major meat producer.

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 out from rubble after her house had been shelled.

Shortly afterwards, Antov apologised for the post, claiming that the message 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 of Ukraine.

Alexei Idamkin, Russia’s consul-general in Calcutta, told the TASS news agency that there was no foul play in the lawmaker’s death.

A senior police officer was quoted by NDTV as saying Antov was depressed “due to the death of his friend''.