Death of Oligarchs, Putin Critics Outside Russia Shows KGB's Ability to Reach Beyond Borders

The death of Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov at a luxury hotel in Odisha on Friday along with another Russian has led to several speculations.

Western countries claim that Russia operates like a deep-state and even though the Soviet security agency, the Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti aka KGB has been replaced by the Federal’naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii aka the FSB, Russia’s critics believe that the FSB like its predecessor continues to eliminate people KGB deems threatening – sometimes even if they are pro-Kremlin and if required, kill or attack them outside Russian borders.

Antov was found dead outside the hotel in Odisha’s Rayagadh and according to reports he ‘mysteriously’ fell from the window of the third floor of the hotel where he was living.

Days before his death his compatriot and fellow traveller Vladimir Bidenov also died in the same hotel.

The police have registered two unnatural death cases but do not suggest any foul play based on circumstantial evidence.

Suspicions of the Kremlin being involved in an assassination arose after it was revealed that the founder of the meat brand ‘Vladimir Standard’ was also a lawmaker as he was the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Vladimir Region. It was revealed that the oligarch – whose worth is £130 million – was also opposed to Russia’s so-called ‘military operation’ in Ukraine.

More than 12 Russian businessmen and oligarchs have died mysteriously this year, raising concerns that Russia is eliminating those who are in power and also do not support the war in Ukraine.

Here is a list of some high-profile deaths of Russians abroad as well as within the country which grabbed global attention:

• 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, London: Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko died in 2006 after drinking green tea laced with polonium, a radioactive element in Millennium Hotel Mayfair. The former KGB officer switched sides and was working for the British MI6 and was investigating corruption among Russian officials and accused Russian state for orchestrating a series of apartment building explosions in 1999 which were blamed on Chechen rebels.
• 2013, Boris Berezovsky, London: Once instrumental in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, the tycoon fell apart after finding out that he does not wield similar influence on Putin like he did during former Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s tenure. He exiled himself in London and vowed to topple Putin’s government and also accused Putin of planning the death of Alexander Litvinenko. He was found dead inside a locked bathroom in his UK home, with a noose around his neck. Coroners suspected suicide but later said they failed to determine the cause of death.

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• 2009, Sergei Magnitsky, Russian prison: Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer, died after suffering torture at the hands of Russian prison guards after he arrested after being accused of colluding with a British investment firm Hermitage. Hermitage hired him to investigate a monumental tax fraud which was committed against them. Magnitsky found out that a group of interior ministry officials managed to obtain a $230m rebate from Russian authorities and three companies belonging to Hermitage Capital. Those he accused of colluding with the Russian state, got him arrested and he died after spending close to a year in jail.
• 2018, Poisoning of Sergei Skripal, London: Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were found ‘slipping in and out consciousness’ at a bench in a shopping mall near Salisbury, UK. It was later discovered that he and his daughter were poisoned using Novichok poison. The former KGB agent was working with the British MI6 and was part of a US-Russian spy swap in 2010. Skripal’s death led to a diplomatic tussle between the UK and Russia, with former UK prime minister Theresa May demanding ‘answers’ from Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to reports, Skripals regained their health and currently reside at an unknown location.

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• 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, Moscow: The outspoken critic of Putin was shot dead by contract killers inside the elevator of her own building. Her book, “Putin’s Russia,” accused the president of turning Russia into a police state. It was revealed that $150,000 was paid to the people who killed her but the person who made the payment was not found. Putin denied the Kremlin’s involvement.
• 2022, Vladislav Avayev and Sergey Protosenya, Moscow/Lloret de Mar: Avayev, the former vice-president of Gazprombank, was found dead with his wife and daughter in his Moscow apartment on April 18. Protosenya, former executive at the gas producer Novatek, was found dead in the resort town of Lloret de Mar. The bodies of his wife and daughter were found nearby. Police investigated both cases as murder, murder-suicide.

(with inputs from CBS, NBC News, BBC, Reuters and the Washington Post)

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