A MYSTERIOUS incident in which one of Russia's most powerful spies was found dead on a Turkish beach has provoked speculation that the deputy head of the country's foreign military intelligence service was murdered.

The badly decomposed body of Major-General Yuri Ivanov washed up last month on the Mediterranean shoreline and was discovered by Turkish villagers in Hatay, Turkish newspapers reported on Wednesday. Reports suggest he was quietly buried in Moscow at the weekend.

General Ivanov was the second in command at Russia's foreign military intelligence unit, the GRU.

The general was deployed to review military installations in Syria amid Kremlin attempts to reassert its influence in the Middle East, reports suggested.

General Ivanov's body was found on August 16 but was only identified last week. Russia's Red Star newspaper confirmed his death on Saturday in a brief obituary. Russia's defence ministry declined to comment further.