Wealthy Putin critic, 65, who called Ukraine invasion ‘terror’, found dead after mysterious fall during birthday trip

A RUSSIAN politician who slammed Putin’s war in Ukraine as terror has been found dead. 

Multi-millionaire Pavel Antov was celebrating his upcoming 66th birthday on holiday when he mysteriously fell from a hotel in India.

Indian media reported that the sausage tycoon jumped from the roof but Russia’s consul general Alexei Idamkin insisted he fell from a window. 

Married mogul Mr Antov, listed as Russia’s richest elected politician in 2019, was found in a pool of blood in Rayagada, Odisha state two days after another friend in his party died.

Vladimir Budanov, 61, is said to have died from a heart attack on Thursday. 

In June Mr Antov slammed missile strikes on Ukraine, saying: ";A girl has been pulled out from under the rubble, the girl’s father appears to have died.

"The mother is being pulled out with a crane — she is trapped under a slab. To tell the truth, it is extremely difficult to call this anything other than terror."

But he soon U-turned, deleting his social media post and issued a grovelling apology. He blamed the post on an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and a technical error.

In September another Putin critic was found suspiciously dead after an alleged suicide.

Pavel Pchelnikov, 52, was found shot on the balcony of his apartment in Moscow.

And in August nightclub tycoon Dan Rapoport, 52, also died in suspicious circumstances in the US.

The Putin critic apparently left a suicide note and money attached to his dog which he released into a park in Washington D.C.

It comes after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed yesterday in a hopeful Christmas message: "We will create our own miracle."

Zelensky told his war-torn nation: “We are coming for our people, we will return freedom to all Ukrainian men and women.”

He added: “Let’s endure this winter because we know what we are fighting for.

“Wherever we are, we will be together today. We will not wait for a miracle. After all, we create it ourselves.”