Two RT reporters killed, one of them started RT and was good friends with Putin

Have not seen much about this here, I find it interesting


Most recent in Tel Aviv
[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]


First one
[link to www.activistpost.com]

By John Vibes

It was reported late on Friday that Mikhail Lesin, the former head of media affairs for the Russian government, and the founder of Russia Today (RT), was found dead in the hotel room that he was staying at in Washington DC.

Lesin, who is said to be a close associate to Russian President Putin, was staying at the Hotel Dupont when he passed away this week, and very few details about the case have been made public. According to ABC, the Metropolitan Police Department is now investigating his death, but his family was quick to say that the cause of death was a heart attack.

Lesin’s death comes at a time where he was surrounded in controversy, especially in the United States. RT, the Russia-based news source that Lesin founded has become very controversial in the US for challenging the Western narrative of foreign policy and privacy issues. Some US politicians have suggested that RT be banned in the US for “spreading propaganda,” while others have been blatant enough to attack Lesin personally.

Some US Senators, including Roger Wicker of Mississippi, recently called for the Department of Justice to open an investigation into Lesin’s finances.

Wicker was concerned that Lesin made too much money, something that was really none of his business.

“That a Russian public servant could have amassed the considerable funds required to acquire and maintain these assets in Europe and the United States raises serious questions,” Wicker said.

Lesin was 57 years old, an age where heart attacks happen, but not extremely often.

“The president has a high appreciation for Mikhail Lesin’s massive contribution to the creation of modern Russian mass media,” the Kremlin’s press service said on Saturday.

The Russian Embassy in the US put out the following statement:

Our consular officials had an opportunity to confirm that the Russian national who passed away in DC is indeed Mikhail Lesin. Out of respect to the privacy and sensitivity of the matter we are not at liberty to disclose any other information, and would ask you to refer all further requests to his family and the law enforcement officials.