Russians’ deaths must be probed

The death of two Russian nationals in quick succession and in suspicious circumstances in Odisha’s Rayagada district recently merits a thorough investigation. Although the Russian embassy in New Delhi has said that Indian police had found “no criminal element” in the deaths, the possibility of foul play cannot be ruled out, especially since one of them, Pavel Antov, was a multi-millionaire businessman and member of parliament, and importantly a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Antov died after allegedly falling from the third floor of a hotel, his friend Vladimir Bidenov had been found dead two days earlier in a room they had shared in the same hotel. Police said Bidenov had died of a heart attack. The deaths have triggered much speculation. Two Russians dying in quick succession in a remote part of India raises questions. The hurried manner in which the bodies of the two men were cremated compounds the suspicions.

Antov was a critic of Putin’s war on Ukraine. In June last year, Antov had on social media called Russian missile attacks on a residential block in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, “terrorism”, though he subsequently backtracked, calling himself a Russian patriot and a supporter of Putin. Several critics of Putin have died unnatural deaths in recent years, and their numbers have grown since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Was Antov eliminated for his damning indictment of Putin on social media? Over the past year, several Russian businessmen with ties to key industries have died in mysterious circumstances. These include top officials of Gazprom, the Russian energy conglomerate in which the Russian government owns a majority share. A year ago, a top Gazprom official was found dead with his wrists slashed, and a suicide note beside his body. Other Gazprom officials have murdered their family members before killing themselves. The chairman of Lukoil, Russia’s second largest oil producer, Ravil Maganov, who had called for an end to the war, died in September after “falling off” the sixth floor of a hospital.

The Indian government must investigate the deaths of the two Russian nationals on Indian soil. If there is evidence of foul play, especially by either the Russian criminal mafias or by the Russian State, it is imperative that the Modi government takes it up with the Russian government. Britain, a haven for Russian billionaires and former spies who had fallen foul of Putin, learnt a bitter lesson the hard way, especially following the “Salisbury poisonings”, a Russian intelligence hit job using a Cold War-era nerve agent that became a large-scale public health threat to British citizens. India cannot allow its soil to become a playground for Russian political intrigues and criminal activities.