Story highlights
Ex-Putin aide Mikhail Lesin was found dead in a hotel room
He died of 'blunt force', officials say, following an autopsy
A former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin died of blunt force injuries to the head, officials said Thursday.
Mikhail Lesin, 57, also sustained injuries to his neck, torso, arms and legs, a statement from Washington D.C.’s Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Dustin Sternbeck, the D.C. police department’s chief spokesman, told the Washington Post that the case remains under investigation.
He would not say whether the medical examiner’s ruling means a crime may have been committed.
“We’re not willing to close off anything at this point,” Sternbeck said.
In a mystery that sounds plucked from a cold war spy novel, Lesin was found dead inside a Washington, D.C. hotel room in November last year.
The Russian millionaire was a long time advisor to President Vladimir Putin and the one-time head of media affairs.
He became head of Gazprom Media in 2013 but resigned the following year. The holding company controls several popular television channels and other media outlets.
One U.S. senator called him the country’s top censor and asked that he be investigated for money laundering.
