Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin dead at 67: Diplomat succumbs to heart failure

Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin passed away on Thursday morning due to heart failure, according to news reports. At the time of writing, no other details were available about whether or not the 67-year-old diplomat was unwell before his heart failure. [caption id=“attachment_3221492” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Alexander Kadakin. Getty Images[/caption] In July last year, Kadakin had been awarded the Order of Friendship by Sergey Ivanov, the Russian President’s Chief of Staff, for his efforts in strengthening and the bilateral ties between India and Russia. After India’s surgical strikes against terror launchpads across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Kadakin in October had said that Russia was the only country to clearly say that Pakistan was responsible for large-scale terrorism. In an interview with CNN-News18, he had called upon Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism. “Greatest Human Rights violations take place when terrorists attack military installations and attack peaceful civilians in India. We welcome the surgical strike. Every country has right to defend itself,” he had said. He had also said that “India should not be concerned about military exercises between Russia and Pakistan because the theme of the exercise is anti-terror fighting. That’s in India’s interests that we teach Pakistani army not to use itself for terror attacks against India.”