Another Putin Critic Takes a Fatal Spill, This Time During Holiday in India

Defenestration deaths among critics of Vladimir Putin are ahead of pace this year, as a well-known businessman and local assemblyman, Pavel Antov, plunged from a hotel window in India on Sunday after celebrating his 65th birthday. His death marked the seventh fatal spill from a balcony, staircase, or cliff among Russia’s oligarchy in 2022.Mr. Antov’s fall came two days after his colleague, Vladimir Bidanov, met the same fate at the same hotel. The two had reportedly been vacationing together in a group of four. Mr. Antov had previously repudiated a post on his WhatsApp account that criticized Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine.The “sausage tycoon” of the Vladimir region “was depressed after his [friend’s] death and he too died,” the Odisha police superintendent, Vivekananda Sharma, explained of Mr. Antov’s death to the BBC. Messrs. Antov and Bidanov were not the only unexpected deaths over the Christmas weekend. A Russian general, Alexei Maslov, the chief military representative to NATO, died suddenly at Moscow on Sunday at age 69. A day earlier, the general director of Admiralty Shipyards, which is responsible for constructing Russian military submarines, Alexander Buzakov, was reported dead. Although the 66-year-old died “suddenly and tragically,” no cause was given.In all, at least 22 Russian businessmen and officials have died this year in unusual circumstances. Several were reported to have passed from falls, suicide, or suffocation. In three cases, the bodies of family members were found alongside the decedents. Claims of murder-suicide have been denied by friends and family members. The deaths have spanned the globe, from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and other points in Russia to England, France, Spain, and India. The suspicious causes resemble the last wave of gruesome deaths — 38 car bombs, hangings, poisonings, torture, and other traumas suffered by Russia’s political and business elites — between 2014 and 2018.The rapid descents off the sides of buildings seem out of step with per capita rates among citizens of other nations around the world. Although the World Health Organization reports falls as the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide, those are defined as slips and trips and are most common among the elderly. Falls due to self-harm or assault are more rare.Fatal tumbles among rich and powerful Russians conjure more sinister circumstances. They include the 2021 death of a 35-year-old man, named only as the son of a Federal Security Service general, Alexey Zhalo, who dropped from an embassy window in Berlin. German news outlets reported that the son was a spy known to Berlin authorities. His body was dispatched back to Moscow before any investigation could take place.In 2020, a prominent Russian scientist, Alexander “Sasha” Kagansky, plummeted from his Saint Petersburg apartment window wearing only his underwear. He was found with a stab wound. Russian authorities said they suspect foul play. In 2017, a popular nightclub owner, Sergei Tkachenko, fell from his Moscow apartment building. His former business partner, Dan Rapoport, died at Washington, D.C., in August, also from a fall out of a building. Rapoport also was a well-known critic of Mr. Putin.A former lieutenant colonel of the KGB and ex-head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Mr. Putin has been consolidating his power for years, and maintains a very small cadre of confidants. After being re-elected four times, the war he launched in Ukraine in March has taken a slight toll on his popularity, though he maintains a still-high 77 percent approval rating. An opposition lawmaker, Nikita Yuferev, this week cheekily appealed for Mr. Putin to be brought up on charges “for spreading ‘fake news’” about the military operation in Ukraine, according to Agence France-Presse. Mr. Yuferev declared Mr. Putin had violated his own law — signed in March — when he accidentally misspoke and called the Ukraine invasion a “war.” Such misstatements are punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Another Putin Critic Takes a Fatal Spill, This Time During Holiday in India

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