State Department Orders NYC Medical Examiner Not To Release Autopsy Results For Russian Ambassador

Drink your polonium, comrade. The New York Daily News reports:

An iron curtain has fallen on the autopsy results of Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, who died in New York last month, officials said Friday. The city Medical Examiner announced it will not be releasing the cause of death for Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s combative ambassador to the United Nations, “in order to comply with international law and protocol.”

The order not to disclose came from the New York City Law Department at the behest of the State Department and the United States Mission to the United Nations, Medical Examiner spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said. Because Churkin had diplomatic immunity, results of his autopsy should not be released, federal officials declared in two letters sent to the Mayor’s office for International Affairs.

“The United States has an obligation to take all appropriate steps to protect his dignity,” James Donovan, Minister Counselor for Host Country Affairs, stated in a letter dated March 1. The Law Department agreed and issued a gag order, preventing the ME’s office from releasing Churkin’s autopsy results.