Viktor Chernomyrdin died

In Moscow, on Wednesday night, at the age of 73, the famous political figure Viktor Chernomyrdin died, ITAR-TASS reports.

From December 1992 to March 1998, Chernomyrdin headed the Russian government, and from 2001 to 2009 he was the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine.

After leaving this post, he was appointed special representative of the President of the Russian Federation on economic cooperation with the CIS member states.

Today's meeting of the State Duma began with a minute of silence.