Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin dies in New York

Vitaly Churkin, the Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, died in New York a day before his 65th anniversary, according to the press service of Russian Foreign Ministry.

"Remarkable Russian diplomat passed away at work. We express our deepest condolences to the family of Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin," the message of Foreign Ministry reads.

It was also reported later that the Russian ambassador to the United Nations died after suffering heart problems in Manhattan. "Vitaly Churkin fell ill at the Russian Mission to the U.N. on East 67th Street around 9:30 a.m. and was unconscious when emergency personnel arrived," the New York Post informed.

Churkin was born in 1952. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1974. He was a Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, Representative of the Russian Federation at the UN Security Council since April 8, 2006.