TWO of Vladimir Putin’s top spy chiefs have died suddenly days apart sparking fears they were assassinated.

Nikolay Kovalyov, 69, who preceded Putin as director of the FSB security service, died in Moscow on April 5.

5 Putin with Nikolay Kovalyov who died suddenly in Moscow last week

Five days later his loyal ally Sergey Shamarin - also a former senior KGB spy official - was found dead aged 61 in the Russian parliament.

Shamarin “died suddenly in his office”, reported Moskovsky Komsomolets, with some reports that he had suffered a “blood clot”.

He was close to Kovalyov who was an MP for the pro-Putin United Russia party and chairman of a committee for military veterans when he died.

Putin spoke of his “great sadness” over the loss of Kovalyov who headed the FSB from 1996 to 1998 under former president Boris Yeltsin.

One newspaper wrote of the “strangeness” of the double deaths even though Kovalyov was reported to have suffered from a “lengthy illness”.

Other accounts said he was active until the end.

“Kovalyov died while still a young man aged 69 on 6 April, and on 11 April his assistant - also not at all an old man - followed,” reported Express Gazeta.

5 Kovalyov's death has sparked claims on social media he was assassinated

5 Mourners attend the funeral of former spy chief Kovalyov following his death earlier this month

5 Sergey Kovalyov was Putin's predecessor as director of the FSB spy agency Credit: East2west News

Sergey Parkhomenko, a journalist and political commentator wrote: “What interesting events happen in the Russian State Duma."

Nikolay Podosokorskiy, a publicist and literary critic, said: “Something is happening."

Their comments sparked social media claims of foul play.

Russia has seen a number of “early deaths” of senior security service figures in recent years.

In November 2018, spymaster Igor Korobov, who led military intelligence agency the GRU, died aged 62 leading to claims he may have been “killed” as punishment for the botched Novichok poisonings last year.

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Moscow strongly denied claims that the spy chief murdered.

But earlier there had been reports that an “enraged” Putin had slammed Korobov over the “deep incompetence” of the Salisbury poisonings.

His predecessor Colonel-General Igor Sergun died suddenly in January 2016 from a “heart attack” at 58.

5 GRU military spy chief Igor Korobov died shortly after the botched Salisbury attack Credit: East2west News

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