Istanbul police investigate death of top Russian diplomat

Nikolai Kobrinets, director of the department for pan-European cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who had arrived there for a working meeting, has died in Turkey. He was 61 years old and his body was found in a hotel in Istanbul. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in its Telegram channel that the diplomat died on 12 October.

Kobrinets was born on 21 December 1961 in Moscow. He worked in the Foreign Ministry system in various positions - he was deputy permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the EU from 2006 to 2011, and from 2011 to 2012 he served as deputy director of the department of pan-European cooperation.

In 2019, he became head of the Department of pan-European cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In turn, the publication The Sun writes that the death of the diplomat of the Russian Federation has raised many questions for the local police and the version of a heart attack is no longer considered as the only one.

The publication reports that the foreigner was found dead in bed. There were no injuries on his body. Initially medics wrote in the report that he had a heart attack, which was the cause of death, but the police suspected that the death of the diplomat may be provoked. His body has been released for forensic examination.

Police are also checking his hotel room for fingerprints and examining CCTV footage," the newspaper said.

The Sun points out that the death of the Russian diplomat is another link in a long chain of suspicious deaths of Russian officials and businessmen and notes that Russian President Vladimir Putin "uses assassinations as a tool to defeat enemies and keep allies in line. The newspaper recalls the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and writes that his death due to an exploding aeroplane is also among the obscure ones linked to the Kremlin chief.

Dozens of high-profile figures have died since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine last February - many in mysterious and sudden circumstances, including "suicides" and falling from windows," the journalists write.

The Sun Online points out that there have been at least 40 such suspicious deaths since January last year.