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Fri, Mar

Mirgayas M. Shirinskiy

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Russia's ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinskiy, was found dead in the swimming pool at his home in Khartoum on Wednesday, the Sudanese police said. The ambassador, who was known to have suffered from high blood pressure, is believed to have died of natural causes, a spokesman for the police told Reuters.

Shirinskiy, born in 1954, was appointed to the post in 2013. He also served as Russian ambassador to Rwanda prior to his most recent post.

Shirinskiy manifested symptoms of an acute heart attack, embassy staff told state broadcaster, Russia24.

Sudan's foreign ministry expressed its condolences to Russia in a statement, hailing Shirinskiy's diplomatic efforts.

Though there is no evidence to suggest anything suspicious about Shirinskiy's death, he is the latest in a long line of Russian emissaries to die in the past year.

Since the start of 2017, four Russian diplomats have died. Nine have died since late 2016.

In February, Vitaly Churkin, 64, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations died of an apparent heart attack, according to the Russian mission at the UN.

Less than a month earlier, the Russian ambassador to India, 67-year-old Alexander Kadakin, died after a short illness. A spokeswoman for the embassy added there was nothing "special or extraordinary" about his death.

Two weeks before that, on January 9, a senior diplomat at the Russian embassy in Greece was found dead on the floor of his apartment. A Greek police report said he had died of natural causes.

 


Sources: Reuters, CNN

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