The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitali Tchourkine, died Monday in New York. The diplomat, who would have turned 65 on Tuesday, was on the front line in recent years to defend the Kremlin's policy. "The permanent representative of Russia to the UN, Vitali Tchourkine, died suddenly in New York on Monday 20 February." It was in a statement that the Russian Foreign Ministry announced from Moscow the death of the man who was on the front line in recent years to defend the Kremlin's policies, especially in Ukraine and Syria.
President Putin pays tribute to Vitali Tchourkine:
The diplomat, who was reportedly 65 years old on Tuesday, had a discomfort, while he was on the premises of the Russian representation at the United Nations and was transported urgently to a hospital in Manhattan, apparently suffering from heart problems, diplomatic sources said. President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to Vitali Tchourkine, whose "professionalism and diplomatic talent" was highly appreciated, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
The UN remembers his works:
Diplomats holding a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York observed a minute's silence at the announcement of the death of their colleague.
A tribute to his memory must take place Tuesday at the UN. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Vitali Tchourkine had served "remarkably well in some of the most difficult and important periods in recent history."
His role in building relations between Russia and the US:
In recent years, relations between Russia and the West have gradually tightened, defiance culminating with the Ukrainian crisis in early 2014 and then the Russian intervention in Syria.
In particular, Russia has resorted six times to its right of veto in the Security Council to block resolutions on Syria. The former US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, with whom Vitali Tchourkine had very active exchanges on Syria, wrote on Twitter that she was "collapsed" after learning of her death and hailed a "maestro Of diplomacy".
