MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian envoy to the United Nations passed away in his office in New York on Monday. The diplomat would have turned 65 on Tuesday, February 21.
"May I personally express my sincere condolences… let me say that a pass of Ambassador Churkin is a loss for international diplomacy and [I] imagine it is a loss for Russia," Grandi said during the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Churkin was born in Moscow on February 21, 1952. He has served as Russia's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Russian representative in the UN Security Council since April 2006.