Russian Businessman Found Dead in UK May Have Been Killed

London police are investigating the death of a Russian businessman as a murder after a postmortem examination suggested he may have been strangled by hand or ligature, the Guardian reports. Nikolai Glushkov was found dead Monday in his London home after he failed to show up in court to defend himself against claims he stole $123 million from Russia's state airline. The murder investigation is being led by the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command. According to the BBC, police say there is no evidence connecting Glushkov's death with the attempted murder via nerve agent of a former Russian spy and his daughter the previous week. Meanwhile, Russia says it's also investigating Glushkov's death as a murder, the AP reports.

The 68-year-old Glushkov was a former deputy director of Russian state airline Aeroflot. He was jailed for five years in 1999 for money laundering and fraud before being granted political asylum in the UK in 2010. Glushkov became an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. A close friend tells the BBC he was "concerned" that Russia may consider Glushkov as working against the state. Glushkov was also friends with another Russian businessman who was found hanged in his home in the UK in 2013 after his relationship with Putin soured. London police, who are still guarding Glushkov's home, are looking for anyone who saw or heard something suspicious in the area between Sunday and Monday. (More Russia stories.)