The former minister’s friends in Moscow said that he was ill in recent years, underwent several operations, and, according to preliminary data, the cause of his death was a heart attack.
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The autopsy was conducted and completed within 24 hours after Lesin’s body arrived at the lab in November, NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly reports. He declined to say whether the post-mortem results meant a crime may have been committed. “But there are outliers”.
Before Thursday’s announcement initial reports were suggesting that the man responsible for the creation of the media network Russia Today suffered a fatal heart attack in his room at the Dupont Circle Hotel. “We are waiting for clarification from Washington and the relevant official details on the progress of the investigation”.
He became head of the state-controlled media giant Gazprom-Media Holding in 2013, but resigned early in 2015, citing family reasons.
Russia’s then Minister of Press, Television and Radio Broadcasting, Mikhail Lesin (R) and then T … In 1999, he was named Russian media minister and played a key role in Mr Putin’s first election campaign, after which he oversaw the Kremlin’s efforts to establish state control over Russia’s top private TV channel NTV, and helped tame other media. District of Columbia police spokesman Officer Hugh Carew confirmed the autopsy results for Mikhail Lesin on March 10, 2016.
After Lesin’s departure, President Putin spoke of his “tremendous contribution” to Russian media.
The death of Lesin had prompted no shortage of speculation in the USA and in Russian Federation in recent months.
Before Mr Lesin’s death, Roger Wicker, a U.S. senator from MS, asked the authorities whether the Russian had breached the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by buying “multiple” homes worth millions of dollars in Los Angeles.
Immediately after Lesin died, the authorities released only the most basic information.
Circumstances surrounding the death of an ex-aide to the Russian president are still shrouded in mystery as Washington refuses to provide Moscow with in-depth information on his death in the U.S. after briefly announcing he died due to head injuries.
ABC News has said Lesin had been accused of censoring Russia’s independent media. He was 57 or 58, according to different Russian new agencies.
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“We’re not willing to close off anything at this point”, said Dustin Sternbeck, D.C. police department’s chief spokesman.
