Name Mikhail Lesin | Parents Yuri Lesin | |
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Children Anton Lessine, Ekaterina Lesina Similar People Alexei Venediktov, Margarita Simonyan, Vladimir Gusinsky, Vladimir Putin | ||
Mikhail Yuriyevich Lesin (Russian: Михаил Юрьевич Лесин; July 11, 1958 – November 5, 2015) was a Russian political figure, media executive and an adviser to president Vladimir Putin. In 2006 he was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", one of Russia's highest state decoration for civilians. Mikhail Lesin was nicknamed the Bulldozer (Russian: Бульдозер) because of his ability to get virtually all Russian media outlets under The Kremlin's control.
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Lesin died in a Washington, DC, hotel room under unusual circumstances. His family initially said the cause of death was a heart attack but, after a year-long investigation, Washington's chief medical examiner and federal authorities released a joint statement saying he died of blunt-force trauma to his head sustained in his hotel room, induced by falls amid acute ethanol intoxication.
Biography
Mikhail was born in Moscow to a family involved in military construction. He spent childhood years in Mongolia while his father, Yuri, worked on military construction projects.
From 1976 to 1978, he was in military service with the Soviet Army and Soviet Naval Infantry (Marines Corps) of the USSR Armed Forces. In 1984, he graduated from the Moscow Engineering and Construction Institute in Yaroslavsky as a civil engineer. From 1982 to 1987, he worked in engineering positions at Minpromstroy (Industrial construction ministry) in Moscow and in Ulan Bator. During 1988-89, he was Deputy Director for Production of television programs of the Creative Production Association "Game Appliances". From 1990 to 1993, he was Director of Youth creative production association of the TV company RTV, Российское телевидение (РТВ). In the late 1980s, he directed the television show Funny Guys (Весёлые ребята).
In the early 1990s, Lesin set up Video International, which became a multibillion-dollar advertising agency with exclusive advertising rights on NTV, and, in 2015, is still one of Russia's biggest. In 1994, he left Video International. From 1993 to 1996, he was Head of Commercial Department, Deputy General Director and General Director of RIA Novosti. At this position in Novosti, he was pivotal in the Russian parliamentary elections of 1995 and, especially, the re-election of Yeltsin in the 1996 Russian presidential elections. He began the slogan "Voice of the Heart", authored "I believe I do, I hope," and "Save and Protect", and provided the president's weekly radio address to the country. From September 1996 until February 1997, he was head of Public Relations for the President of Russia under Yeltsin.
