A FORMER Russian consul-general to Iran has been found dead in his home in Moscow.

       The body of senior diplomat Konstantin Alekseev was discovered at home by his wife, according to reports.

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       The body of senior diplomat Konstantin Alexeev has been discovered by his wife Credit: East2West 5

       The cause of Alekseev's death is now being investigated Credit: East2West 5

       He had served as a top diplomat in Iran for several years Credit: East2West

       Aged 63, he had been based in Rasht for four years, a key hub for exports and imports between autocratic states Iran and Russia via nearby Caspian Sea port Bandar-e Anzali.

       Currently the route is used to supply Iranian arms including military kamikaze drones to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

       He had also served at a senior level inside the Russian Foreign Ministry including as deputy director of the second department of Asia.

       “The causes of Alekseev’s death are now being established,” reported Shot media.

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       It was unclear if the diplomat was still involved with Iran, returning from Rasht in 2019.

       He had earlier served as Minister Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Iran.

       He held the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and was fluent in Persian and English.

       Russia has seen a spate of mysterious deaths to prominent people during Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

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       Just over a week ago, Vladimir Lebedev, a Russian senator with close links to the Kremlin died suddenly aged 60, after suffering a "heart attack".

       No further details were given, but his colleagues described him as healthy and said that his death came as a “deep shock”.

       Lebedev had close business ties to Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, chairman of the energy giant Lukoil board of directors, who also died "suddenly" last month.

       Nekrasov was the third top executive from the oil company to have died since the beginning of the war.

       Lukoil had initially demanded negotiations to end the fighting with Ukraine, an act which signified to Putin that the company would not be loyal to him.

       Prior to the deaths of Lebedev and Nekrasov, Lukoil tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, fell from a window of Moscow’s elite Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin clinic, in September last year.

       There were suspicions of murder but Maganov had been in hospital for a longstanding heart problem and fell from a sixth floor window, dying on the spot.

       Billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43 - also linked to energy giant Lukoil where he was a top manager - was found dead in May 2022.

       One of the circulating theories is that Subbotin was poisoned by toad venom - which then triggered a heart attack.

       As well as all of the top Lukoil executives, several Russian generals have been killed since the beginning of the war.

       Colonel-General Gennady Zhidko, 58, was found dead from a mystery illness after he was purged from the military command in August.

       The Readovka news website, which is loyal to the Putin regime, reported that Zhidko had died after a "lengthy illness".

       His death was also confirmed by Khabarovsk regional governor Mikhail Degtyarev, another Kremlin loyalist.

       However, there has been no official announcement yet and neither report mentioned where he died.

       While General Vladimir Sviridov,68, and his wife Tatyana, 72, were found in their home in the village of Adzhievsky in the Stavropol region.

       The former commander of Russian air defences had once criticised Vlad for allowing a “third-ranking” air force.

       He demanded Putin “create normal living conditions for young officers, as well as for all servicemen, so that they can properly perform their service duties”.

       The authorities still haven't been able to ascertain the cause of their sudden deaths.

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       A report found: “Gas service workers have already taken measurements and no excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances has been detected.

       “What caused the death of Vladimir and Tatyana Sviridov is still unknown.”

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       Alekseev's death is the latest in a long string of mysterious deaths to prominent people in Russia Credit: East2West