An outspoken anti-war Russian TV chef who lived a life as an exile in London has been found dead at 52.
Alexei Zimin, also a respected editor, is reported to have been found dead in a hotel room while on a trip to Belgrade. The cause of death is unclear.
Mr Zimin owned Zima, a Russian restaurant in Soho, having initially left his homeland in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea.
He had not set foot in Russia since his television gastronomic show on the NTV channel was abruptly cancelled in 2022 when he criticized the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Zimin had been editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ as well as Afisha Mir and Gourmet. Details of his death in Serbia are said to be scarce.
A statement on Wednesday from his Zima magazine said: “Alexei Zimin, the project's editor-in-chief and the chef of the Zima restaurant, has passed away.”
It added: “For us, Alexei was not only a colleague, he was our friend, a close person with whom we were lucky to go through a lot - both good, kind and sad.
“Thank you to everyone for the words we receive today about Alexei. We are hurting together with you.
“The entire Zima team expresses condolences to Alexei's family and mourns together with them.”
Zimin previously had several cooking shows in Russia, which had run for 11 years before being halted amid his criticism of Putin’s war.
Moskvich magazine in Russia said he had been found dead in a hotel in Belgrade where he had been on an advertised tour promoting his new book called Anglomania.
His London restaurant in Frith Street was advertised as offering “Russian cuisine with a modern twist in the heart of Soho”.
His Zima Club ran “various 'workshops, parties and other events” and is popular with Russian expats in the UK.
It was seen as providing a platform for Russians labelled “foreign agents” by the Kremlin, and forced into exile.
Zimin is survived by his wife Tatiana 'Tanya' Dolmatovskaya, a costume designer who previously worked at Vogue Russia and graduated from the University of the Arts London, and their daughter Varvara, 17.
In a post three months after Putin’s invasion he said: “Russia will be free, one way or another, or the third, more mysterious, way.”
On his cancellation by pro-Kremlin NTV, he said: “11 years. For 22 television seasons I had a programme on Saturday morning prime time on NTV. Since May it has been gone….
“There will be no new episodes because of the host's anti-war position. Do I regret it? No, I regret that we ended up participating in the war.”
He had also posted: “Stop the war. Withdraw troops. Return our soldiers home.”
