Serbian Ambassador to Russia Dies

Miroslav Lazanski (BETAPHOTO/ZIVOTA POPOVIC/DS)

Serbian Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Lazanski (70) has died, the Belgrade media reported on Aug. 4

Lazanski, a journalist and military analyst, had died in Belgrade, the Serbian Foreign Ministry has confirmed.

Lazanski was posted to Moscow in the mid-2019, serving before that as an MP in the Serbian National Assembly from 2016 until 2019.

Miroslav Lazanski was born in Karlovac, Croatia, on Sept. 18, 1950. He finished high school in Trebinje, and graduated from the School of Law in Zagreb, according to the RTS public service.

He began his journalistic career as a university student in the Zagreb-based Polet paper, writing also from Vjesnik, Danas, and Start magazines. While still residing in Zagreb, he also wrote for the Belgrade-based Politika Ekspres newspaper and NIN magazine. In March 1991, he joined the staff of the Politika newspaper, in 1996 transferring to Vecernje novosti, and returning to Politika in 2001.

Lazanski was a regular columnist for the Greek Kathimerini newspaper and the Japanese Diamond Weekly. He also worked as a war reporter from Beirut, during the Iraq-Iran war, and from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Zaire, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Crimea.