According to a report from Der Spiegel on Friday (November 5), the German security service believes that the man found on a street outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin last month was an undercover agent of the intelligence department of the Russian Federal Security Service.
The magazine stated that the 35-year-old man’s body was discovered by the Berlin police guarding the building earlier on October 19. A security source was quoted as saying that the man fell from the upper floor of the embassy.
It added that the police officer called an ambulance but the medical staff was unable to resuscitate him.
The embassy confirmed in a statement to the Interfax news agency that a Russian diplomat had died, but said that “for moral reasons, it will not comment on this tragic incident”.
The Berlin police declined to comment and referred all questions to the prosecutor, who stated that they could neither confirm nor deny the report by Der Spiegel. There have been no reports of the discovery of bodies outside the Russian diplomatic mission.
Security sources told the magazine that it is unclear how the diplomat fell and what caused his death. Der Spiegel said that the Russian Embassy did not agree to an autopsy.
In a statement to Interfax News Agency, the embassy said: “All procedures related to the repatriation of the dead bodies of diplomats will be promptly resolved with the law enforcement and medical institutions responsible for Germany in accordance with current practices.”
According to the magazine, the unnamed man was officially listed as the second secretary of the embassy. He is also a relative of a senior official in Russia of the Second Bureau of the FSB in charge of counter-terrorism.
The embassy did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the Spiegel report.
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said at a regular press conference on Friday that the German government knew that a Russian diplomat had died in Berlin, but could not provide any details.
