M.N.: Was it a suicide? If so, then it was the last and ultimate propaganda stunt by an ultimate propaganda man, probably intending to send a message: "You want to take away my money and houses... Then take my dead body too...": "As of Saturday, the police said, an autopsy had been conducted but no ruling had been made about the cause of death." - A Putin Ally Is Found Dead in a U.S. Hotel - NYT

M.N.: Was it a suicide? If so, then it was the last and ultimate propaganda stunt by an ultimate propaganda man, probably intending to send a message: "You want to take away my money and houses... Then take my dead body too..."

As of Saturday, the police said, an autopsy had been conducted but no ruling had been made about the cause of death.

A Putin Ally Is Found Dead in a U.S. Hotel

Sunday November 8th, 2015 at 11:36 AM

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WASHINGTON — The police here said on Saturday that the department was continuing an investigation into the death of Mikhail Lesin, a former aide to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia who helped design the government’s takeover of independent media in that country. Mr. Lesin was found in a high-end hotel here on Thursday morning.

Mr. Lesin, who the police said was 59, was found with no signs of life about 11:30 a.m. in a room at the Dupont Circle Hotel. He was identified by an official from the Russian Embassy here on Friday, according to its press secretary, Yury Melnik.

As of Saturday, the police said, an autopsy had been conducted but no ruling had been made about the cause of death. Russia Today, the English-language state television network Mr. Lesin helped found, reported that he had died of a heart attack, a detail echoed by a member of Mr. Lesin’s family who reportedly spoke with the state news agency RIA Novosti.

The hotel deferred all comment on Saturday to the police in Washington.

Mr. Lesin was a major figure in Russian media after the fall of the Soviet Union, first as an advertising executive and later as a top government official and media executive.

He had deep connections to the Russian state at the time Mr. Putin was reasserting his authority over the country’s rambunctious and freewheeling media. He was a crucial figure in that process, which began with the takeover of Russia’s first independent television channel, NTV, in the early 2000s, and was viewed with bitterness by many Russian journalists at that time.

He was Russian press minister between 1999 and 2004 — a time of increasing government pressure on independent journalists and media outlets in the country — and later served as a presidential adviser, spearheading the development of the government’s growing media and technology apparatus.

It was in the latter position that Mr. Lesin helped establish Russia Today, now known as RT. The network was intended to balance major Western media companies, but to critics both within and outside the country, it has earned a reputation as a Kremlin propaganda arm.

“It’s been a long time since I was scared by the word propaganda,” Mr. Lesin reportedly said in 2007,according to RT. “We need to promote Russia internationally. Otherwise, we’d just look like roaring bears on the prowl.”

More recently, Mr. Lesin became head of Gazprom-Media, the country’s largest media holding company, in 2013, but resigned from that position in late 2014.

While still with the company in 2014, Mr. Lesin’s personal wealth attracted suspicion in the United States. Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, called for a Justice Department investigation, raising the possibility of corruption and money-laundering charges based on what he alleged were millions of dollars in assets, including $28 million worth of real estate in Los Angeles, controlled by the former civil servant. It is unclear whether such an investigation occurred...

Mikhail Lesin found dead in US hotel

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