Russia's Ambassador To India Dies At Age 67 In New Delhi

The later Russian ambassador to India, Aleksandr Kadakin (file photo)

Russia's Foreign Ministry says the country's ambassador to India, Aleksandr Kadakin, has died in New Delhi at the age of 67.

Russian state news reports said Kadakin's death on January 26 was the result of heart failure.

Kadakin, who served for more than two decades as a Russian diplomat, had been the Russian ambassador to India since 2009. He also had served at the New Delhi post from 1999 to 2004.

He was Russia's ambassador to Nepal from 1993 to 1997 and the ambassador to Sweden from 2005 to 2009.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said "Russian diplomacy has lost one of its utmost professionals who selflessly devoted himself to promoting the interests of our country abroad."

The Russian foreign service has suffered several losses in its top echelon in recent weeks.

Moscow's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated on December 19 in Ankara.

Andrei Malanin, Russia's top diplomat in Greece, was found dead on the floor of his Athens apartment of apparent natural causes on January 9.

With reporting by the Economic Times and Interfax