Putin ally ‘falls to his death from third-floor window’

The body of pro-Putin regional politician Vladimir Egorov, 46, has been found after a suspected fall from a third-floor window.

As a member of the ruling United Russia party, he was a prominent and wealthy politician in oil-rich Tobolsk in Western Siberia.

The Tobolsk City Duma fell to his death from the third-floor window of a house on Kedrovaya Street in Tobolsk, Tyumen Oblast, the Russian Telegram channel Baza, which has ties to Russian security services, reported.

One source said there was “no visible sign of criminal death on (the politician's) body.” Pathologists must investigate the cause of death.

According to reports, his corpse was found in the garden of his house.

According to news channel 72, Egorov may have suffered from heart problems.

“One of the most likely reasons is heart problems,” a source told the publication.

Heart problems are often cited as an explanation for several premature or suspicious deaths among prominent people in Russia since the start of the war against Ukraine.

How this was related to the fall of approximately 30 feet from a third-floor window is unclear.

The report said: 'In the near future, pathologists will conduct an autopsy to determine the true cause of Egorov's death.'

News company Baza reported: 'The police are now investigating the exact cause of his fall.'

A trained lawyer with business interests, he was forced to leave the city council earlier in 2016 after a corruption scandal for which he was ultimately not convicted.

He returned to politics and was the richest local deputy in Tobolsk.

He leaves behind a wife and two children.

One video shows him meeting his son after returning from military service.

Egorov became one of Tobolsk's richest deputies in 2022, with an income of 9.1 million rubles (about £788,000), Russian news channel RBC reports.

He is not the only high-ranking figure in Russia whose death by fall from a window has raised suspicions since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In June, the glamorous vice president of a Russian bank reportedly plunged to her death after falling from the window of her Moscow apartment.

Kristina Baikova, 28, executive at Loko-Bank, is said to have fallen from her 11th floor apartment on Khodynsky Boulevard in the early hours. She died instantly on the spot.

The bank manager was with a 34-year-old friend, believed to be named Andrei, at the time of the incident after inviting him to her home for a drink.

In February, a top Russian defense official was found dead after falling 50 meters from a tower block window.

Marina Yankina, 58, was discovered by a passerby at the entrance of a house on Zamshina Street in Saint Petersburg.

It is believed that she fell from the 16th floor to her death.

Yankina was a key figure in financing Vladimir Putin's illegal war in Ukraine as head of the Defense Ministry's financial support department for the Western Military District, which is deeply involved in the dictator's invasion.

The Russian Investigative Committee and the press service of the Western Military District 'Fontanka' both confirmed her death.

In December 2022, sausage multimillionaire Pavel Antov, who had criticized Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, was found dead after a mysterious fall from a hotel in India.

Antov, from the main pro-Putin United Russia party, had been traveling to celebrate his upcoming 66th birthday.

A male friend from his party had died 'of a heart attack' the week before, and the wealthy politician was killed two days later.

The married tycoon, a member of parliament in the Vladimir region's legislative assembly, was listed as Russia's highest-earning elected official in 2019.

Russian Consul General in Kolkata Alexei Idamkin told TASS that he “fell” from a hotel window in Rayagada, Odisha state.

In June of that year, Antov criticized the war and airstrikes on Kiev as Russian “terror” that injured Ukrainian civilians.

Highlighting a Russian missile strike, he said: “A girl has been recovered from the rubble, the girl's father appears to have been killed.

'The mother is trying to be pulled out with a crane, she is trapped under a slab. Frankly, it's extremely difficult to call this anything other than terror.”

Apparently he soon came under heavy pressure, after which he withdrew the comment and apologized profusely.

He made an about-face, claiming his social media post had been “an unfortunate misunderstanding” and a “technical error.”

He insisted he had “always supported the president” and “sincerely” supported the aims of Putin's military operation – but local journalists strongly disputed this.

In September 2022, the chairman of a Russian oil company who criticized Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was found dead under suspicious circumstances after jumping from a sixth-floor window of a Moscow hospital.

Ravil Maganov, 67, chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil, died on the spot after falling from a sixth-floor window of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital around 7:30 a.m. local time.

Russian state media quickly said his death was a suicide, but law enforcement sources said there was no suicide note and no CCTV cameras on the part of the building where Maganov fell.

Lukoil, of which Maganov was chairman, was one of the few major Russian companies to call for an end to fighting in Ukraine after Moscow invaded.

In a statement in the days after the invasion, Lukoil's administration called for an “immediate” cessation of fighting and expressed condolences for those affected by the “tragedy.”

And seven months later, Maganov was found dead after falling from the hospital window.