Mikhail Lesin
Mikhail Lesin | |
|---|---|
Михаил Лесин | |
Lesin (left) with Vladimir Putin, 2002 | |
| Minister of Press and Mass Media | |
| In office 6 July 1999 – 9 March 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Vladimir Putin Mikhail Kasyanov |
| Preceded by | Ivan Laptev (as head of the Committee for Mass Media) |
| Succeeded by | Mikhail Seslavinsky (as head of the Federal Agency for Mass Media) |
| Head of the Presidential Office for Public Relations | |
| In office 14 September 1996 – 10 March 1997 | |
| President | Boris Yeltsin |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Mikhail Margelov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 July 1958 Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 5 November 2015 (aged 57) Washington, D.C., United States |
| Resting place | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Mikhail Yuryevich Lesin (Russian: Михаил Юрьевич Лесин; 11 July 1958 – 5 November 2015) was a Russian political figure, media executive and advisor to president Vladimir Putin. In 2006, he was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", one of Russia's highest state decorations for civilians. Lesin was nicknamed the Bulldozer (Russian: Бульдозер) because of his ability to get virtually all Russian media outlets under the Kremlin's control, and for being combative in person.
Lesin died in a Washington, D.C., hotel room under unusual circumstances. His family initially said the cause of death was a heart attack, but after a year-long investigation Washington's chief medical examiner and federal authorities released a joint statement saying Lesin died of blunt-force trauma to his head, induced by falls amid acute ethanol intoxication. A leaked report by Christopher Steele for the FBI said Lesin was bludgeoned to death by men working for an oligarch close to Putin.