The Russian vice-consul in Rio de Janeiro dramatically shot dead an armed mugger who had tried to hold him up in his car - just after the Olympic torch relay had passed by on the last day before the Rio 2016 opening ceremony.

Marcos Cesar Feres Braga, a Brazilian lawyer who holds the vice-consul post at the Russian consulate, reportedly grabbed the attacker and pulled him into his BMW X6 after he had smashed the car window and pointed a gun at him, demanding he hand over his watch.

A struggle ensued inside the diplomat's car until he managed to grab the assailant's gun, which he used to shoot him dead at point blank range, according to police.

Mr Braga is trained in jiu-jitsu and was travelling with his wife and daughter at the time, local media outlet Globo reported.

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Deadly force: The Russian diplomat was in this X6 SUV when a robbery attempt turned into a wrestling match which ended in the death of the robber

Diplomatic car: The X6 belongs to Russia's vice-consul in Rio who is a local lawyer

The mugger, who was on a motorbike with another man, struck at around midday as Braga was waiting for traffic to start moving again after the Olympic torch had passed by on Avenida das Americas in the Barra da Tijuca district of Rio, close to the Olympic Park and athletes village.

Witnesses said that at the moment of the shooting Olympic cyclists from Slovenia were passing by on a training exercise.

The body of the mugger, named as Leonardo Lopes Batista, which lay for several hours on the road as police underwent investigations, was seen by various Olympic delegations which passed by on the special Olympic lanes close to the crime scene.

But the Russian General Consul in Rio has denied any diplomat was involved in the shooting.

'Brazilian media reports that a Russian diplomat was allegedly involved in an incident that led to the death of a Brazilian national during an armed attack is not true,' Vladimir Tokmakov told Russian news agency TASS.

'All Russian diplomats and personnel of Russian foreign institutions located in Rio de Janeiro are safe and sound and are of no relation to the aforesaid incident.

'The man who was involved in the incident could have presented himself as a general consulate employee.'

One witness told how the mugger shouted, 'you've lost, hand over your watch' as he announced the robbery, before breaking the car window with his revolver.

Show of force: Massive numbers of heavily-armed police and members of the armed forces have been deployed in Rio

Torch procession: This was the police guard for the Olympic Torch Relay - which caused the traffic jam in which a motorcycle robbery went fatally wrong for the perpetrator

His accomplice reportedly fled after seeing his partner suddenly hauled inside the diplomat's shot and killed.

In a statement, Rio's 31st Military Police Battalion, which investigated the incident, said Braga 'acted quickly pulling the criminal inside the car, took his revolver and fired it towards him.'

Rio's Homicide Police Station said investigators were still at the crime scene, more than five hours following the shooting.

A spokesman said: 'The man involved is a lawyer and also the vice-consul of Russia. He is Brazilian and a native of Rio de Janeiro.

'He is not part of or has any relation with the Olympic committee of Russia which is in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics.'

The shooting is a reminder of Rio's reputation for violent crime.

The United States has warned its citizens about the risk from crime and warned them off going to areas including the favelas - the country's gang-ridden shantytowns.

But the police have made a point of a massive crackdown before the games and a huge show of force on the streets.