1st LD Writethru: President of UN General Assembly "greatly saddened" by death of Russian UN envoy

President of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson on Monday said that he was "greatly saddened" at the news of the passing of Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin.

Churkin, who became the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, died of an apparent heart attack in New York on Monday morning at the age of 64, just a day before his 65th birthday, local media said.

Thomson, who described the late Russian envoy as a "dear friend," said in a statement issued here by his spokesman that "the Russian Federation and the United Nations have lost a true son and a great international intellect."

The General Assembly president is scheduled to make a full statement at 3:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT) on Monday, his spokesman said.

Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq the said that he was "actually quite stunned" by the reports of Churkin's death.

"He has been such a regular presence here that I am actually quite stunned," Haq said. "Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government."

"A prominent Russian diplomat has passed away while at work. We'd like to express our sincere condolences to Vitaly Churkin's family," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued in Moscow.

Born on Feb. 21, 1952 in Moscow, Churkin was ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation from 2003 to 2006. He was his country's ambassador to Canada from 1998 to 2003, and to Belgium from 1994 to 1998 before he represented Russia at the United Nations since 2006. Endit