A RUSSIAN journalist who died after falling from a seven-floor building in France had written a mysterious note claiming his phone had been hacked.
Evgeny Safronov, 38, had fled Putin’s repressive regime and was found dead this morning after falling from the window of his seventh-floor home.
The 38-year-old had reportedly received “death threats” before he died in Meudon, on the outskirts of Paris.
Cops confirmed the journalist had fallen from a window of his rented flat, and an investigation has been opened to determine “the circumstances of the death” and his frame of mind.
A mysterious suicide note obtained by BFM described how the journalist believed his phone to have been “infected by hackers” before his death.
The note, written in Russian and addressed to the journalist’s family, said: “All my accounts have been hacked.
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My Telegram account has been stolen.
All my mobile phones and applications have been cloned.”
Before he fell from a seventh-floor window, Safronov seemed to be panicking about being the victim of a cyber attack.
He wrote: “My text messages and phone conversations have been intercepted. My phone has been infected by hackers.”
The Russian insisted at the end of the note: “I have never worked for Russia’s interests and I have never been recruited by anyone.”
A friend who spoke to the journalist on January 4, three days before his death, said his mental state had deteriorated.
The friend told BFM: “He wasn’t himself. He seemed to be having a full-blown paranoid episode.”
Another Russian journalist based in Paris claimed Safronov had told him he feared surveillance and intimidation – it remains unclear whether these fears were because of real threats or were the result of severe distress.
According to Le Figaro, investigators found a chair placed near the window sill inside the apartment, and medications in a bin.
Police sources told the newspaper that letters written in Russian were also found at the scene.
Safronov worked for Open Media, an outlet founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, until the end of 2024.
He fled Russia in 2021, after Open Media was designated a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin — a label widely criticised as a tool used by Putin to silence independent journalism.
During his career, Safronov regularly reported on pressure against journalists, court cases linked to protests involving Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and the tightening grip on free speech under Putin’s repressions.
In February 2021, he was briefly detained while attempting to cover a court hearing linked to Navalny.
After leaving Russia, Safronov lived for periods in India and Turkey, before eventually securing a French visa and moving to Paris around six months ago.
Friends say he struggled to rebuild his life after what he described as an unfair dismissal from Open Media, which had itself relocated to Europe.
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You’re Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising
awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let’s all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You’re Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support: