Russian official found dead at embassy in Southern Cyprus

A senior Russian official has been found dead at the country's embassy in Southern Cyprus, with a post-mortem finding that the cause was unnatural and "probably suicide", a police source told AFP on Monday.

The man's body was discovered inside his office last Thursday and police were called to the embassy, but officers were not permitted to enter the complex to investigate, local media reported.

Instead, the body was handed over to police in the embassy courtyard.

"A body was found on the premises. Any further inquiries must be addressed to the embassy," the police official told AFP.

The dead man has not been named.

The only information provided to Southern Cypriot police was that the Russian national took his own life and had left a note, the Phileleftheros newspaper reported.

But the note was reportedly not passed to Southern Cypriot authorities because the embassy sent it to Moscow, the paper said.

Southern Cypriot authorities "appear to have been informed of the incident with a delay of several hours", Phileleftheros added.

The Cypriot Foreign Ministry is reportedly monitoring the case.