Russian journalist and Putin critic left note before ‘suicide’ | World | News

A Russian journalist who fled Vladimir Putin’s regime has been found dead after plunging from the seventh floor of his Paris apartment, leaving behind a mysterious note claiming his phone had been “infected” by hackers. Yevgeny Safronov, 38, was discovered on Thursday morning outside his rented flat on the outskirts of the French capital after falling from the window.

The reporter had received “death threats” before his death, according to reports, and had been living in fear of Russian surveillance. French police have opened an investigation to determine the “circumstances of the death” after the journalist’s body was found beneath the seventh-storey window. A suicide note discovered by officers and reported by French news organisation BFM revealed the troubled journalist’s belief that he was being targeted by hackers.

Written in Russian and addressed to his family, the note stated: “All my accounts have been hacked.” It continued: “My Telegram account has been stolen. All my mobile phones and applications have been cloned.”

The message suggested Mr Safronov had become increasingly paranoid about surveillance in the days before his death, writing that his calls and messages had been “intercepted.” He ended the note with a cryptic denial: “I have never worked for Russia‘s interests and I have never been recruited by anyone.”

A friend of the deceased reporter told BFM that Mr Safronov “seemed to be having a full-blown paranoid episode” in the days leading up to his death. Another journalist based in Paris said the Russian reporter had been terrified of surveillance by Moscow’s intelligence services.

French newspaper Le Figaro reported that investigators found a chair positioned near the window sill in his apartment, as well as medication discarded in his bin. Mr Safronov had worked for Open Media, an independent Russian news outlet founded by exiled oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, until the end of 2024.

He fled Russia in 2021 after his employer was branded a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin, a label widely used by Putin’s regime to stifle independent journalism and target critics. During his career, Mr Safronov had reported extensively on the tightening restrictions on free speech in Russia under Putin’s authoritarian rule.

His work had made him a target of the Russian authorities, and he was detained in 2021 after attempting to cover a court hearing linked to Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Following his detention and the branding of Open Media as a “foreign agent,” Mr Safronov fled his homeland and spent time living in exile in India and Turkey.

He had moved to France just six months ago, seeking safety in the European nation that has become home to numerous Russian dissidents and journalists fleeing persecution. His death comes amid a long history of suspicious deaths of Russian journalists, opposition figures and defectors living abroad.