By Jack Stubbs

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s combative ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly in New York on Monday after being taken ill at work, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Vitaly Churkin, who served as Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, "died suddenly" in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.Churkin would have turned 65 on Tuesday.The announcement "of the untimely passing away of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin this morning" was met with shock when it was delivered during a session at the UN headquarters. "Unfortunately, the world has not become more stable than it used to be," Churkin told RT's Aleksey Yaroshevsky.Before he was appointed to represent Russia at the UN in May 2006, the diplomat served as ambassador to Belgium, ambassador to Canada, and liaison ambassador to NATO and the Western European Union (WEU).In the 2000s he was ambassador at large at Russia's Foreign Ministry, while in the early 1990s he served as the special representative of the Russian president to the talks on the former Yugoslavia.
Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin dies suddenly in New York City. He would have turned 65 on Tuesday.