An employee of the Russian Embassy died in Berlin

A Russian diplomat suspected by German intelligence of working for the FSB has been found dead under the windows of the Russian embassy in Berlin, reports Der Spiegel.

According to the publication, on the morning of October 19, the city police found the body of a man near the building of the Russian embassy, ​​but it was not possible to resuscitate him. Presumably, the deceased fell out of the window of one of the upper floors of the building under unclear circumstances. The building of the Russian embassy in Berlin has four floors.

The deceased was a 35-year-old man, since the summer of 2019 he was accredited as the second secretary of the embassy. German intelligence, according to Der Spiegel, considered him an FSB officer working under diplomatic cover. According to the publication, he was associated with a high-ranking FSB general. The body of the deceased was repatriated the next day (due to diplomatic status, an investigation or an autopsy in Germany is not possible).

The name of the deceased is not given in the Der Spiegel publication, however, The Insider and Bellingcat (both publications are recognized by the Ministry of Justice as foreign agents), having studied open sources, established that his name was Kirill Zhalo. According to them, the man was the son of Lieutenant-General Aleksey Zhalo, head of the Federal Security Service's Department for the Protection of the Constitutional System.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christopher Burger confirmed the death of an employee of the Russian embassy in Berlin, refusing to provide any details due to provisions on the protection of personal data and information, reports Interfax . The Russian Embassy in Germany declined to comment "for ethical reasons." The Russian embassy in Germany called speculation about the death of a diplomat in Berlin absolutely incorrect.