A top ally of Vladimir Putin, and the editor of his favourite paper, has died suddenly on a business trip.
Vladimir Nikolayevich Sungorkin, 68, was editor-in-chief of Russian state newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda - and is thought to have tragically died after having from a stroke.
The 68-year-old reportedly died on Wednesday after showing signs of suffocation while on a business trip in the village of Roshchino, in Russia ’s far east region, his colleague Leonid Zakharov said.
Zakharov said: “It happened absolutely suddenly, nothing foreshadowed. We were in the village of Roshchino. We were driving, we were already making our way towards Khabarovsk, we planned to get there in the evening today, and from there to Moscow. All was good”.
According to Zakharov, Sungorkin then fell unconscious minutes after suggesting their group “find a beautiful place somewhere… for lunch.”
He added: “Three minutes later, Vladimir began to suffocate. We took him out for fresh air, he was already unconscious… Nothing helped.
"The doctor who did the initial examination said that apparently, it was a stroke. But this is the initial conclusion.”
Putin is due to send a personal message to Sungorkin's family.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sungorkin's death was a "great loss," adding: "Today is sad news, unfortunately, Sungorkin passed away. We knew him very well."
In 1976, Sungorkin worked as a reporter for the pro-Kremlin paper. And in 1997, the media magnate became the editor-in-chief and director-general.
And Sungorkin was among the many Russian businessmen sanctioned by the West amid the Russian despot's invasion of Ukraine.
The European Commission described the editor as "one of the main actors in foreign information manipulation and interference activities or propagandists who often speaks out on Ukraine, creating misinformation and manipulating facts."
The sanction added: "Vladimir Sungorkin is disseminating and legitimising aggressive anti-Ukraine and anti-Western propaganda of the Putin regime under direct Kremlin authority in one of Russia's most popular media outlets.
"The newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda has been described also by President Vladimir Putin as his favourite newspaper.
"Vladimir Sungorkin is therefore responsible for supporting actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."
Sungorkin’s death comes after a string of mysterious deaths of top Putin allies in just a matter of months.
Most recently, Ravil Maganov - the chairman of the Russian oil giant Lukoil, a firm that openly criticised Putin's invasion of Ukraine - reportedly died after plunging from a hospital window.
And Ivan Pechorin - an aviation director for Russia’s Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, responsible for developing Russia 's vast Arctic resources - was reported dead after “falling from a boat” in Vladivostok, according to local Russian media.
His body was found after a search lasting more than a day.
In April, multimillionaire Sergey Protosenya, 55, was found hanged in Spain. He was a former deputy chairman of Novatek, a company also closely linked to the Kremlin.
