Being a Russian diplomat seems to be bad for your health. When Migayas Shirinsky, ambassador to Sudan, was found dead (paywall) in his residency’s swimming pool in Khartoum on Aug. 23, he became the ninth Russian foreign official to surprisingly pass away since January 2016.
Being a Russian diplomat seems to be bad for your health. When Migayas Shirinsky, ambassador to Sudan, was found dead (paywall) in his residency’s swimming pool in Khartoum on Aug. 23, he became the ninth Russian foreign official to surprisingly pass away since January 2016.
Here’s the full roster. However, before getting carried away with conspiracy theories, bear in mind that a lot of these are old, Russian men (paywall)—not a group with a long life expectancy:
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Age: 58
Date: January 4th, 2016
Location: Unknown
Cause of death: Unclear. The Russian defense ministry didn’t say (paywall) where or how he died. The Financial Times, citing Western intelligence sources, said he had recently been sent (paywall) to Syria to ask president Bashar al-Assad to step down; the Kremlin denied making such a request. Stratfor, a geopolitical analysis site, cited an unidentified source saying Sergun had died in Lebanon.
Age: 63
Date: November 8th, 2016
Location: New York, USA
Cause of death: Unclear. Initial reports said Krivov fell from the roof of the embassy; this was then changed to a heart attack. The police reports said Krivov had a head wound, but the medical examiner’s office said it found no evidence of that. A joint-NYPD and FBI investigation deemed the death not suspicious.
Age: 62
Date: December 19th, 2016
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Cause of death: Shot dead by a gunman in an art gallery, in what Russian officials dubbed a terrorist attack (paywall). The assassin shouted, “Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria!” after shooting the ambassador.
Age: 56
Date: December 19th, 2016
Location: Moscow, Russia
Cause of death: Shot dead in his Moscow apartment hours before Karlov was assassinated in Ankara. Russian officials said the death was not related to his work as a chief advisor to the ministry’s Latin America department. (It’s unclear if he was still working for the ministry when he was killed.)
Age: Unknown
Date: December 26th, 2016
Location: Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan
Cause of death: Heart attack, but officials were investigating other possibilities (link in Russian). Skrylnikov was found dead in his apartment; his body showed no signs of being attacked.
Age: 55
Date: January 9th, 2017
Location: Athens, Greece
Cause of death: Unclear. Malanin was found dead in his apartment with the door locked on the inside and no signs of a break-in. Greek officials said he seemed to have died of “natural causes” but were investigating.
Age: 67
Date: January 26, 2017
Location: New Delhi, India
Cause of death: Died in hospital after a “short illness.”
Age: 64
Date: February 20th, 2017
Location: New York, USA
Cause of death: Unclear. US authorities can’t release autopsy results under international law. An anonymous New York City source said it was a heart attack with no foul play.
Age: Early sixties
Date: August 23rd, 2017
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
Cause of death: Unknown. Died while swimming.
