On Tuesday Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó informed Hungarian news agency MTI that he had been in contact with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in order to express condolences in the name of the Hungarian government on the death of Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin died on Monday, one day before his sixty-fifth birthday; he collapsed in his office and doctors at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital were unable to save his life. According to The New York Times, the diplomat was suffering from leukaemia and a heart condition, and his death was the result of a heart attack.

The UN General Assembly observed a minute’s silence in memory of Mr. Churkin.

(MTI)