NEW YORK (AP) - Russia's ambassador to the United Nations who died suddenly after falling ill at his office at Russia's U.N. mission is being remembered by his diplomatic colleagues as a powerful and passionate voice for his nation.
Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, says Vitaly Churkin was taken to a hospital, where he died Monday. Churkin would have turned 65 Tuesday. The cause of his death was not immediately known.
Churkin had been Russia's envoy at the United Nations since 2006. He was the longest-serving ambassador on the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called him "a uniquely skilled diplomat, a powerful orator with great wit, and a man of many talents and interests."
Colleagues from around the world mourned Churkin as a master in their field.