Controversial Russian media mogul found dead in Washington

Controversial Russian media mogul Mikhail Lesin, whom critics accused of limiting press freedom, has been found dead at a Washington hotel. He was 57.

"Lesin died. It's impossible to believe this," tweeted Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, a state-funded English-language television channel he helped set up.

ACB News, quoting a Russian and a US official, reported late Friday that Lesin had been found in Washington's Dupont Circle Hotel the day before.

RT, formerly known as Russia Today, said the former minister of media affairs died of a heart attack.

A controversial figure, Lesin has been accused of limiting press freedom inRussia.

In a terse statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters late Friday that the "president highly values the enormous contribution Mikhail Lesin made helping establish Russian media." 

Washington police would not confirm his death, saying only that they were investigating the death of someone on the block where the hotel is located in a fashionable area of Washington.

US officials notified the Russian embassy of Lesin's death and authorities from both countries are trying to determine the circumstances in which he died.

Lesin was Russia's minister of press, television and radio between 1999 and 2004 and later served as a Kremlin aide.

In 2013, he became head of Gazprom-Media Holding, the media arm of state energy giant Gazprom, and oversaw the work of Russia's top liberal radio station Echo of Moscow, among other tasks.

Lesin resigned a year later, citing family reasons.

In a recent interview, the former editor of state news agency RIA Novosti,Svetlana Mironyuk, claimed Lesin was one of two people behind her sacking in 2013.

Caption :  Lesin has been accused of limiting press freedom in Russia (image courtesy : Daily Today)