The Russian Foreign Ministry says one of its diplomats had been found shot dead in Moscow.
In a December 20 statement, the ministry said that a senior adviser at its Latin America Department, Pyotr Polshikov, died in Moscow on December 19.
A Moscow police official said earlier on December 20 that a man's body with gunshot wounds had been found overnight in an apartment on Balaklava Avenue with bullet shells and a gun next to it.
Russian media quoted sources in the police and Foreign Ministry as saying the man was Pyotr Polshikov, who had previously been the head of the Foreign Ministry's Latin America Department.
The ministry added that a preliminary investigation suggests that Polshikov's death was an accident not linked to his work.
But Moscow police sources say investigators are looking into the case as a possible murder or suicide.