Russian millionaire found dead in Washington, D.C. hotel

Mike James | USA TODAY

A prominent Russian millionaire and press minister under Vladimir Putin was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a Washington hotel, according to U.S. and Russian news sources.

Mikhail Lesin, the former head of media affairs for the Russian government who's been accused of curtailing the country's press freedoms, had been staying at Hotel Dupont when he was found Thursday, according to ABC News.

Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said the incident was under investigation and that the identity of the victim could not yet be confirmed.

Police first got the call about the death Thursday morning at about 11:34 a.m. ET, Officer Sean Hickman, a spokesman for the department's public information office, said Friday night.

The Dupont Circle Hotel is located at 1500 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. A woman who answered the phone at the site said it was not hotel policy to give out information on guests.

According to the Russian embassy, Lesin, 57, was found dead in his hotel room, TASS Russian News Agency reported.

Following the news, Putin expressed condolences to the family of Lesin, who had served as a presidential adviser from 2004 to 2009, Sputnik News reported.

"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, RT reported.

Sputnik News said Lesin died in Moscow, although several other media, including Reuters, ABC and the New York Daily News, identified Washington as the location where he died.

It's unclear why Lesin would have been in the U.S.

Lesin's relatives say he suffered from a disease and died because of the heart attack

Lesin is credited with creating Russia Today, the English-language news network backed by the Russian government. Now known as RT, the network "provides an alternative perspective on major global events, and acquaints an international audience with the Russian viewpoint," according to its website.

ABC reported that from 1999 to 2004, Lesin served as Russia's Minister of Press, Television and Radio, often traveling with Putin on official trips.

He then served as presidential media adviser from 2004 to 2009, RT reported.

In 2013, he became head of Gazprom-Media Holding, the state-controlled media giant that describes itself as one of the largest media groups in Russia and Europe. Lesin resigned the next year, reportedly citing family reasons.

Contributing: Jessica Estepa