Mikhail Lesin, Russian Media Tycoon, Ex-Putin Aide, Found Dead in DC Hotel

A Russian media magnate and former aide to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has been found dead in a hotel room in the U.S. capital.

American and Russian authorities are both trying to determine what caused the death of 57-year-old Mikhail Lesin, a former Russian Cabinet minister and a founder of the international media company RT, originally known as Russia Today.

President Putin mourned Lesin Saturday, saying he made great contributions to "modern Russian mass media."

RT's English-language service said Lesin died of a heart attack.

The Russian embassy in Washington confirmed Lesin's identity.

Official roles

He had served as Russian press minister from 1999 to 2004 and was presidential media adviser from 2004 to 2009. He also was a senior executive at Gazprom-Media, Russia's largest media holding company, from 2013-2014.

Washington police declined to release any details beyond confirming that they were investigating a man's death in a hotel in the capital city's fashionable Dupont Circle neighborhood.

ABC News reported that U.S. Senator Robin Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, had called last year for a probe of Lesin on suspicion of money laundering and corruption.

In a letter to the U.S. attorney general, Wicker accused Lesin of acquiring "multimillion-dollar assets" in Europe and the United States while serving as a Russian government minister.

Wicker said the assets included $28 million worth of real estate in Los Angeles.

Russian Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya Dies At 86

Russian opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya, the widow of legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, died Tuesday aged 86.

State media report that she has suffered from heart trouble in recent years.

The famed soprano was celebrated for her dramatic interpretations of classic and modern works and sang in most major opera houses across the world.

For many years, Vishnevskaya enjoyed a star status in the Soviet Russia where she received the Order of Lenin and the People's Artist prizes. But she and her husband Rostropovich were forced into exile after offering support to writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was critical of the communist government.

The musician couple was forced into exile in 1974, eventually settling in the United States where she continued to sing and direct opera.

The Soviet authorities later stripped them of their citizenship, which they regained in 1990 during Mikhail Gorbachev's era of perestroika.

The couple was lauded in the post-Soviet Russia and in 1991 established the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., to improve the health and future of children in the former Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week issued a decree granting Vishnevskaya the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland,” 1st Class, for her contributions to Russian music and culture.

He expressed his condolences Tuesday.

(Photo by Alexey Yushenkov, 2008)

Former Soviet Spy Vartanian Dies

Photo: Gevork Vartanian was awarded with the Hero of the Soviet Union medal, a gold star with ribbon.

Gevork Vartanian, a former Soviet intelligence agent who helped derail a Nazi plot to assassinate allied leaders during World War Two, has died. He was 87 years old.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service made the announcement Wednesday, saying Vartanian died Tuesday in Moscow.

Vartanian, whose father was a Soviet agent of Armenian descent based in Iran, began working for Soviet intelligence at the age of 16. In 1943, he participated in foiling a Nazi plot to assassinate Soviet leader Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when they held a conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

He had earlier obtained information about graduates of a British intelligence school in Tehran who were sent to the Soviet Union, allowing Soviet authorities to catch them.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent his condolences to Vartanian's widow, praising him as a legendary and brilliant personality who became a part of the country's history.

Renowned Russian Pianist Nikolai Petrov Dies

Renowned Russian pianist Nikolai Petrov has died after suffering a stroke a few months ago while performing in Belarus.

An assistant for Petrov said he passed away Wednesday in a Moscow hospital.

He was 68.

Petrov was an award winning pianist who performed 70 to 100 concerts each year.

His career included performances with top orchestras in New York, Washington and across Europe.

He also taught at the Moscow Conservatory.

Petrov's funeral is scheduled for Friday in Moscow.

Soviet-Era Human Rights Activist Yelena Bonner Dies at 88

Yelena Bonner (left), Andrei Sakharov and Sofiya Kalistratova in Moscow, 1977. (Photo: M.A.Kallistratova)

Soviet-Era Human Rights Activist Yelena Bonner Dies at 88
Sunday, 19 June 2011

Veteran Soviet-era rights activist Yelena Bonner, widow of Nobel Peace laureate Andrei Sakharov, has died in the United States at the age of 88.

Bonner died of heart problems Saturday in Boston, where she lived with her son and daughter.

Bonner was a relentless critic of human rights abuses by Soviet-era authorities. She was born in Turkmenistan in 1923 to a Jewish mother and an Armenian father. Her father was executed and her mother sentenced to a labor camp under Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

After a career as a nurse, Bonner married nuclear physicist and fellow dissident Andrei Sakharov in 1972. Both became vocal critics of nuclear weapons proliferation. When the Kremlin banned Sakharov from collecting his 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, Bonner went to Oslo to accept it for him.

In the 1980's, authorities sentenced the couple to internal exile in the city of Gorky for criticizing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

After Sakharov's 1989 death, Bonner remained an outspoken critic of Russian military action in Chechnya and of former Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. State Department says it is profoundly saddened at Bonner's death, calling her an extraordinary voice among human rights defenders.

Her family says Bonner will be cremated and her ashes buried in a Moscow cemetery beside Sakharov.

Abkhazia President Dies, New Elections in Three Months

Sergei Bagapsh in May 2008. Photo: Aleshru (Митя Алешковский)

Abkhazia President Dies, New Elections in Three Months
Sunday, 29 May 2011

Abkhazia is mourning the death on Sunday of the president of the breakaway Georgian region.

Officials said the 62 year old Sergei Bagapsh died from complications following lung surgery in a Moscow hospital.

He was in the middle of his second 5-year term as president.

Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in 1992, but it is only recognized by Russia and a few other countries.

Abkhazia officials say Vice President Alexander Ankvab will be acting president until elections for a new president are held in three months.

Abkhazia's Security Council is meeting Sunday to decide on the official days of mourning as funeral arrangements are finalized.