Russian media executive who mocked Putin as 'an evil gnome' reported dead in Spain

A prominent Russian media executive and political consultant has died in Spain, according to reports.

Igor Malashenko, co-founder and president of the independent NTV channel, was reported dead at age 64, reported the Kommersant.

The cause of death was reported by Russian media as suicide, according to the English-language Moscow Times.

Malashenko joined Boris Yeltsin's infamous presidential campaign in 1996, after co-founding NTV with a group of leading journalists, and later headed other media projects, including the RTVI online channel.

Last year, Malashenko oversaw Ksenia Sobchak’s presidential campaign.

“Igor Malashenko has killed himself. I can’t pull myself together,” Sobchak posted on her Telegram channel, according to reports. “I’m grateful to him for our joint work on the presidential campaign. I saw him as a very proper and creative person. I’m proud he headed my campaign."