Russian Critic Dies in India

Russian Critic Dies in India
Pavel Antov, a Russian tycoon and a member of the pro-Putin party United Russia, was found dead after he fell from a 3-star hotel’s roof in Rayagada, Odisha . This was two days later after his friend and fellow United Russia member Vladimir Budanov died of heart stroke at the same exact hotel. Antov was staying at the hotel to take a break from work to celebrate his 66th birthday with Budanov and two other friends.

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Previously Antov had criticized Putin’s conduct during the conflict in the Ukraine as well as his reasons for doing so online in June. But later he made what media outlets describe as a ‘groveling apology’ saying that he was not in a right state of mind when he made those criticisms, that he had made a mistake and that he fully supported President Putin. Antov and Budanov were both members of the legislative assembly of the Vladimir region in the Russian Federation.

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The veracity of the coroner’s reports concerning their deaths remains unclear as Indian law enforcement are still investigating their deaths and it has led to widespread speculation that this may have been more than just an unfortunate coincidence. Two critics of the Russian regime dying a mere two days between each other in the same location is highly irregular. An Indian law enforcement officer involved in the investigation claimed that Antov was depressed because of his friend Budanov’s death which was why he had committed suicide.  Alexei Idamkin, the Russian Consul General in India, said as much and also stated that he was closely following the investigation