Russian ex- PM Yevgeny Primakov dies aged 85

Russia’s former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, famed for turning around his US-bound plane over the Atlantic upon learning of NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, has died aged 85, the Kremlin said on Friday.

“Vladimir Putin expressed deep condolences to the family and relatives of Yevgeny Primakov over his death,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

“He was a statesman, scientist, politician, he has left behind a great legacy,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. A veteran of Soviet and Russian politics, Primakov served as premier under president Boris Yeltsin in 1998-1999.

He was installed in the top government job amid <g data-gr-id="18">political</g> and economic turmoil after Russia defaulted on August 17, 1998. Primakov also served as foreign minister between 1996 and 1998 and headed the country’s external intelligence agency SVR between 1991 and 1996. Considered one of the country’s foremost experts on the Middle East, he was also a member of the Kremlin’s security council until 1999.