Diplomat Kirill Zhalo Found Dead Outside Russian Embassy in Berlin [2021]

Berlin police discovered the body of a 35-year-old diplomat Kirill Zhalo outside the Russian embassy on 19 October 2021 , German news magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing sources.

Berlin police security guards found a dead body on the sidewalk outside an embassy building in Berlin at around 7:20 a.m. on October 19. Rescue workers tried to resuscitate the body, but they were unsuccessful.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christopher Burger confirmed the death of an employee of the Russian embassy in Berlin. He added that he could not provide any details due to provisions on the protection of personal data and information.

The 35-year-old diplomat, who according to the official diplomatic list has been accredited in Berlin as the second secretary of the embassy since the summer of 2019, was considered by German security services to be an unofficial employee of the Russian internal intelligence service FSB.

It was unclear whether the diplomat fell from the embassy building and died on impact, or if they were already dead before they fell. However, given that the embassy building has four floors, suicide seems unlikely.

Who Was Diplomat Kirill Zhalo?

Bellingcat, an investigative journalism organization, has used open source data to confirm that the diplomat Kirill Zhalo who died outside the Russian embassy in Berlin was the son of the head of the Directorate for the Protection of the Constitutional System of the FSB, Lieutenant General Alexei Zhalo. The diplomat was registered at the same address as his father in both Moscow and Rostov, and was removed from the German diplomatic list between November 1 and 4, 2021.

Kirill Zhalo was the third secretary of Russia’s permanent mission to the Ministry of Defense in Vienna, and then transferred to Berlin on June 19, 2019, two months before the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.

The FSB was previously linked by Western intelligence services to the murder of a Georgian exile who was shot dead in a Berlin park in 2019, Der Spiegel and Bellingcat reported. The Kremlin has denied any link between the killing and the Russian state.

Russian Embassy Berlin Response To Kirill Zhalo’s Death.

The Russian embassy claimed that the diplomat’s death was an accident, but refused to comment further for “ethical reasons.” The Russian side also denied German authorities permission to autopsy the diplomat’s body, citing his diplomatic status.

“All the formalities related to sending the diplomat’s body to his homeland were promptly settled with the competent law enforcement and medical authorities of Germany in accordance with the current practice.”

The Russian embassy repatriated the body the next day to Russia.

“The tragic accident with a Russian diplomat occurred on October 19, 2021. All formalities related to sending the diplomat’s body to his homeland were promptly resolved with the competent law enforcement and medical authorities of Germany in accordance with current practice. Appeared in a number of Western media in the context of this tragic incident We consider speculation to be absolutely incorrect,” the diplomatic mission’s press service said in a statement.

Russian Diplomat Kirill Zhalo’s Sudden Death In Berlin

Russian Diplomat / FSB agent Kirill Zhalo who died after falling from an embassy building in Berlin may have been killed because his superiors suspected he was spying for the West.

The envoy’s father, Lieutenant General Alexei Zhalo, is reportedly a senior FSB counterintelligence officer who has been implicated in covert operations targeting opposition leaders and journalists in Russia.

Cxiled Russian journalist Roman Dobrokhotov claimed Kirill Zhalo was likely murdered. Dobrokhotov suspected that Kirill Zhalo had been involved in or knew about the alleged murder of Chechen commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who was shot twice in the head in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten park in August 2019.

Dobrokhotov speculated that Kirill may have been approached by German law enforcement agencies during the investigation into the death of Khangoshvili, who was wanted in Moscow. He claimed that the Russian special services may have killed Kirill because they suspected he was cooperating with German authorities.

Dobrokhotov said that the version that Kirill accidentally fell from an embassy building or committed suicide was “absurd” and “impossible to believe.” German prosecutors were unable to investigate Zhalo Jr.’s death because of his diplomatic status. Kirill Zhalo ‘s body was returned to Russia the day after he was found.