Russia’s ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinskiy, was found dead at his home in Khartoum on Wednesday
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 62-year-old ambassador’s death marks the fourth Russian ambassador to die on the job in just eight months.
Shirinskiy, who was known to have suffered from high blood pressure, is believed to have died of natural causes, a spokesman for the police said.
He was found by police at his home in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on Wednesday, but doctors were not able to save him.
Sudan’s foreign ministry expressed its condolences to Russia in a statement, hailing Shirinskiy’s diplomatic efforts.
Since December 2016, Russian ambassadors to Turkey, India, and the UN have also died while on the job.
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated while speaking at an art gallery in Ankara in an act famously captured on video December 19.
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated while speaking at an art gallery in Ankara in an act famously captured on video December 19
The off-duty police officer who killed him, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is said to have shouted ‘Don’t forget Aleppo’ before opening fire
The off-duty police officer who killed him, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is said to have shouted ‘Don’t forget Aleppo’ before opening fire.
He was killed by Turkish special forces after shooting Karlov, who had been in the diplomatic service for 40 years.
A month later, on January 26, 2017, Alexander Kadakin, the Russian ambassador to India, died of heart failure in the hospital, aged 67.
Kadakin was the longest-serving Russian diplomat in the region, having served 12 years in India.
On January 26, 2017, Alexander Kadakin (left), the Russian ambassador to India, died of heart failure in the hospital, aged 67. On February 20, 2017, former child actor and Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin (right) died from a heart attack, aged 64
On February 20, 2017, former child actor and Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin died from a heart attack, aged 64.
Churkin, the longest-serving ambassador on the UN’s security council, had collapsed in his New York office before he was pronounced dead.
His death came just a day before his 65th birthday.
NYPD sources said he died of a heart attack, and President Vladimir Putin was ‘deeply upset’ by the news, having greatly valued Churkin’s professionalism and diplomatic talent, according to a Kremlin statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.