Vasily Tarasyuk, a member of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, drowned in the Dead Sea last Saturday, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

Tarasyuk, who was on vacation in Israel during the Duma's planned hiatus, was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and the deputy chairman of the State Duma's Committee on Natural Resources and Utilization.

He previously served as chairman of a petroleum company and was one of the wealthiest people in his radical right-wing party.