A reporter who escaped Russia due to media censorship under Vladimir Putin’s regime was found dead following a suspicious fall from a window. Evgeny Safronov, aged 38, from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, was discovered outside an apartment building in the Hauts-de-Seine suburb of Paris. French authorities confirmed his fall, launching an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his demise.
Prior to his death, Safronov reported receiving death threats and experiencing a cyberattack. He informed friends that his phone had been compromised, with his accounts hacked and information stolen. Despite these events, he maintained that he had never worked in Russia’s interests or been recruited for any agenda.
Safronov had worked for Open Media, a Russian-language outlet founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, until the end of 2024. Fleeing Russia in 2021 after Open Media was labeled a “foreign agent,” he faced challenges rebuilding his life in India and Turkey before moving to Paris six months ago with a French visa.
Concerns about surveillance and intimidation haunted Safronov, though it is unclear if these fears were substantiated. Investigators discovered a chair near the window in his flat, along with medications in the bin and Russian-language letters. His roommate, also Russian, was present during the incident but was too shocked to provide details. The police are considering the possibility that Safronov may have been threatened by Russian entities, though the exact cause of his death remains undetermined.
Notably, numerous Russian figures have died in similar mysterious circumstances since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, leading to the term ‘Sudden Russian Death Syndrome.’ Recent incidents include the deaths of Artur Pryakhin, head of Russia’s anti-monopoly regulator, and Andrey Badalov, vice president of state-owned oil company Transneft, both falling from windows in Moscow last year.