Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly in New York on Monday after being taken ill at work, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
This is the fifth diplomat death since December, while the Russian foreign service has suffered losses in its top echelon.
CGTN Photo
Russia's UN envoy Churkin dies suddenly in New York
The Russian Foreign Ministry gave no details on the circumstances of Churkin’s death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died one day before his 65th birthday.
A federal law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that there appeared to be nothing unusual about the ambassador's death.
The New York Post quoted unnamed sources as saying Churkin had been rushed to a Manhattan hospital from the Russian embassy after falling ill with a cardiac condition.
President Vladimir Putin was deeply upset by the news and had greatly valued Churkin's professionalism and diplomatic talent, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying.
Russia's ambassador to India dies of heart failure at age 67 in New Delhi
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony (L) presents a memento to Alexander M Kadakin, the Russian ambassador to India (2R) during the induction ceremony of the INS Chakra II nuclear-powered submarine at the naval shipyard in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on April 4, 2012. /CFP Photo
The Russian ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, died in Delhi on January 26 in the morning after suffering a cardiac failure, the Indian External Affairs Ministry said.
Kadakin, who served for more than two decades as a Russian diplomat, had been the Russian ambassador to India since 2009.
He was Russia's ambassador to Nepal from 1993 to 1997 and the ambassador to Sweden from 2005 to 2009.
In a statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry said "Russian diplomacy has lost one of its utmost professionals who selflessly devoted himself to promoting the interests of our country abroad."
Senior Russian diplomat Andrey Malanin found dead in his Athens home
Investigators enter a residence block where Russian consul Andrey Malanin was found dead in his apartment in Athens, Greece, January 9, 2017. /CFP Photo
Andrey Malanin, a senior Russian diplomat, was found dead in his Athens apartment on January 9, a Greek police official said.
Malanin, 54, was head of the consular department at Russia's embassy in Greece, according to the embassy's website.
He was found lying on his bedroom floor by a member of the embassy's staff, and the body had no visible injuries and there had been no obvious break-in, the police official said.
"At first sight, we are talking about natural causes," the police official said.
Greek media said Malanin had failed to report for work and did not answer his phone. He lived alone on a heavily guarded street.
Russian diplomat Peter Polshikov killed hours after ambassador’s murder
REN TV, a private federal TV network in Russia, reported that ‘the head of one of the departments of the Foreign Ministry’ had been found shot dead in his apartment in Moscow.
“His body was found in the apartment with a gunshot wound to the head,” the report said, adding that “according to some reports” the gun was found under the sink in the kitchen.
Subsequent articles on other websites named the official as Petr Polishkov, and claimed he was head of the Latin American department in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Independent from the UK reported that the Russian Foreign Affairs ministry expressed in a statement their condolences to Polshikov's family but said his death was not related to his work.
Russian diplomats are on high alert following the assassination of its ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov.
There is no evidence the two shootings are linked.
Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov shot dead by police officer in Ankara
This handout picture taken on November 16, 2016 and released on December 19, 2016 by the Russian Foreign Ministry, shows Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Ankara, who was shot dead on December 19, 2016 in a gun attack during a public event in Ankara. /CFP Photo
Andrei Karlov, Russian ambassador to Turkey, was murdered during his visit to an art exhibition in Ankara on December 19.
The killer, identified as 22-year-old Turkish police officer Mert Altinas, shot Karlov five times in the back after allegedly shouting “We die in Aleppo, you die here."
President Putin confirmed that a team of Russian investigators were flying to Turkey to look into the murder, and vowed that they would find out “who gave the orders” for the killing.
“This murder is clearly a provocation aimed at undermining the improvement and normalization of Russian-Turkish relations, as well as undermining the peace process in Syria promoted by Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries interested in settling the conflict in Syria,” Putin said.
