The Russian ambassador to Yemen has been shot and killed in Sanaa, according to reports coming from the Arab kingdom.

Vladimir Dedushkin was reportedly “keeping a close eye” in the war-torn country.

The diplomat was reportedly assassinated in the capital Sanaa.

The assassination was reported by Saudi Arabia’s Barq news agency.

The Russian Embassy in the Yemen has reportedly said “no one’s been shot”, telling NBC no one had been attacked.

A Russian official quoted in Zvezda, a Russian nationwide TV station run by the Ministry of Defence, has denied the reports of an assassination attempt.

Mr Dedushkin was appointed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on August 16, 2013 and replace the outgoing Sergei Kozlov.

Mr Dedushkin said in November last year that Saudi Arabia was key to solving the crisis in the Yemen.

He said: “Saudi Arabia, in my view, has a decisive role in resolving this [Yemeni] conflict. The key to its settlement is in the hands of Riyadh.”

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government and Shiite Houthi rebels, the country’s main opposition faction that forced the Yemeni government to resign last January.