The death of a Russian diplomat found hanged in the premises of the Russian Embassy in Cyprus has raised questions, against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Moscow and Nicosia and suspicions of espionage activities.
Aleksei Panov, 41, was found dead on January 8 in the complex of the Russian embassy in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia. Officially, Panov held the position of third secretary of the diplomatic mission. However, sources cited by independent researchers suggest that he was an officer of the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
Cypriot authorities were notified four days after the discovery of the body. The embassy staff initially refused to allow investigators access to the place of death and did not hand over a presumed suicide note. Due to the diplomatic status of the building, Cypriot police could not perform a complete autopsy, and a preliminary assessment indicated death by hanging, writes The Sun.
Researcher Dmitri Hmelnitski, a specialist in Russia’s influence activities and author of several studies on this topic, claims that his sources identified Panov as a GRU captain. He finds the delay in reporting the death unusual, as well as the lack of transparency of the Russian authorities.
“If it was just a personal tragedy, it is unclear why the death was hidden for several days,” Hmelnitski told the independent Russian press. He does not rule out the possibility that Panov intended to defect, a hypothesis that, if confirmed, would explain the reaction of the authorities in Moscow.
According to Hmelnitski, the diplomat’s activity would have included maintaining the embassy’s espionage equipment, in a context where Russian diplomatic missions would be increasingly focused on intelligence activities.
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