BERLIN (Reuters) -German safety companies imagine {that a} man discovered lifeless in a avenue outdoors the Russian Embassy in Berlin final month was an secret agent of Russia’s FSB intelligence service, Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

The physique of the 35-year-old man was discovered early on Oct. 19 by Berlin cops guarding the constructing, the journal mentioned. Quoting safety sources, it mentioned the person had fallen from an higher flooring on the embassy.

The officers known as an ambulance, however medics had been unable to resuscitate him, it added.

The embassy confirmed in a press release to Interfax information company {that a} Russian diplomat had died however mentioned it was “not commenting on this tragic occasion for moral causes”.

Berlin police declined to remark and directed all inquiries to public prosecutors, who mentioned they might neither affirm nor deny the Der Spiegel report. The invention of a physique outdoors the Russian diplomatic mission had not beforehand been reported.

Safety sources informed the journal it was unclear how the diplomat had fallen and what had induced his demise. The Russian Embassy had not agreed to an post-mortem, Der Spiegel mentioned.

“All formalities linked to repatriating the physique of the diplomat had been promptly settled with the accountable legislation enforcement and medical authorities of Germany in accordance with the practices in place,” the embassy mentioned in its assertion to Interfax.

The person, who has not been named, was formally listed as a second secretary on the embassy, the journal mentioned. He was additionally a relative of a Russia-based senior officer of the FSB’s second directorate, which offers with anti-terrorism.

The embassy didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for touch upon the Spiegel report.

A German Overseas Ministry spokesman informed a daily information briefing on Friday that the German authorities was conscious of the demise of a Russian diplomat in Berlin however couldn’t give any particulars.