Mikhail Lesin died

At the age of 57, Mikhail Lesin died, RIA Novosti reports with reference to his family. Lesin is the chief media and the media businessman of the Putin era, the former head of the Ministry of Printing and the largest Russian media holding Gazprom -Media.

As ABC News clarifies with reference to two officials at once - Russian and senior American - on Thursday Lesin was found dead at the Dupont Hotel in Washington. What the official did in the American capital is unknown. The metropolitan police department is conducting an investigation on the fact of his death.

Lesin graduated from the Moscow Engineering Institute, his career on television began in the late 1980s. In 1996, taking an active part in the election campaign of Boris Yeltsin, he headed the Office of the Kremlin Administration for Public Relations. Lesin was among the creators of the largest Russian advertising holding Video International and at the same time was part of the leadership of the VGTRK.

From 1999 to 2004, Lesin was the Minister of Printing, Broadcasting and Mass Communications. He played one of the key roles in the establishment of state monopoli on television. In 2000, Lesin signed the famous Protocol No. 6 (an appendix to an agreement with Gazprom-Media), which guaranteed the media Magnate Vladimir Gusinsky the termination of the criminal case in exchange for his assets.

In 2004, Mikhail Seslavinsky became the successor to Lesin on the post of head of the Ministry of Print (transformed into a federal agency). Lesin was appointed adviser to the president. He was the initiator of the creation of the Prochrevsky television channel Russia Today. There is evidence that Lesin actively participated in the creation of one of the structures of the National Media Group-NMG-TV, which owns the Ren-TV and the fifth channel.

From the post of presidential adviser, Lesin was dismissed with the wording "at his request." Meanwhile, sources in the presidential administration called the official’s dismissal of “systematic disciplinary violations” and “non -compliance with the rules of the civil service and the ethics of the state -liable behavior”. It was expressed the opinion that Lesin was too active in business and this entailed a conflict of interest.

US senators demanded that the FBI start an investigation against American real estate Lesin.

From October 2013 to January 2015, Lesin headed Gazprom-Media. The last major scandal with his participation was an unsuccessful attempt to shift Alexei Venediktov from the post of editor -in -chief of the Echo of Moscow radio station.