Russian diplomat who died in Cyprus could have been a military intelligence officer and preparing to defect
According to the Cypriot diplomatic list, the deceased is Third Secretary of the Russian Embassy Alexei Panov, whose death is preliminarily considered a suicide, the Telegram channel "Echo" reports .
Russian Embassy in Cyprus. Photo: visa-exp.com
Researcher of Russian influence abroad Dmitry Khmelnitsky told "Echo" that, according to his sources, 41-year-old Panov was a GRU officer with the rank of captain. Before being sent to Cyprus, he reportedly worked in Moscow at an institute related to radio engineering, where his wife may also have worked.
At the embassy, Panov, in the expert's opinion, was involved in maintaining espionage equipment — both on the territory of the diplomatic mission and, probably, beyond its borders.
Khmelnitsky draws attention to suspicious circumstances surrounding the diplomat's death: Panov died on January 8, but the embassy reported it only four days later. Moreover, Cypriot police were not allowed onto the embassy territory and were not given the suicide note allegedly left by the deceased.
In the expert's opinion, if it were solely about personal reasons for suicide, there would be no need to hide the information for so long. He suggests that serious circumstances may have existed, leading to consultations with Moscow, and does not rule out the version that Panov might have been preparing to defect, which was uncovered and stopped — a scenario, according to him, characteristic of Soviet and Russian special services.
Khmelnitsky also noted that Russian embassies have long been performing intelligence functions rather than diplomatic ones, and now, with classical diplomacy virtually minimized, intelligence has become almost their sole occupation. He added that there are eight advisors — positions equivalent to the rank of colonel — at the Russian embassy in Cyprus, not counting secretaries of various levels.
However, the expert stated that he has no information about the possible disappearance in Cyprus of former Uralkali head Vladislav Baumgertner on the eve of Panov's death and cannot confirm a connection between these events.
The official cause of Panov's death has not been named by Russian authorities. In the embassy's statement, where only his initials are given without specifying his position, the diplomat's death is called a "deeply personal tragedy for relatives and loved ones." There is almost no public information about Panov in open sources.
Comments
Не, каб зрабіць недзе маёнтак у ціхім месцы як французы, а вось пасярод вуліцы гэты трэш. Каб усе навокал ведалі... здесь рускі дух, здесь руссю пахнет