Prominent Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza died Sunday morning after a long illness at the age of 59 in Moscow, according to Russian news reports Monday.

Mr. Kara-Murza’s son, who is also a journalist and government critic, wrote on Twitter Sunday that his father, a “historian, TV journalist, one of the founders of the ‘old NTV,’” died at 8 a.m.

After gaining prominence on Channel One when the Soviet Union fell and President Boris Yeltson implemented democratic reforms, Mr. Kara-Murza helped start the first independent television channel in Russia in 1993. Along with several other prominent journalists, Mr. Kara-Murza and his friend Oleg Dobrodeyev started NTV, a network with high standards, sharp analysis and sound reporting, a rarity in Russia at the time.

Mr. Kara-Murza used his background in history to inform his reporting and give current events historical context, which gave him a reputation of creating insightful analysis, according to The Moscow Times. He also emerged as a fierce critic of the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. His son, a Russian opposition politician, served as a pallbearer for the funeral of Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.*

The family will announce funeral arrangements soon.

*Due to an editing error, the original story incorrectly stated that the father was a pallbearer at the McCain funeral.

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