Vitaly Churkin, who was the combative Russian ambassador the United Nations for more than a decade, died suddenly after suffering cardiac arrest while he was at work in Manhattan. His death, which came a day before he would have turned 65, shocked the diplomatic community. Russia’s Foreign Ministry gave few details about the circumstances surrounding Churkin’s passing, but a federal law enforcement official said there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about his death.

Churkin’s death came at a time when everyone is watching Moscow-Washington relations even more closely than normal and many were eager to see how the diplomat not known for mincing words was going to get along with his U.S. counterpart, Nikki Haley. Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was very upset by the news and “expressed sympathy to the friends and family as well as to the staff of the Russian Foreign Ministry.”

Churkin was often the most visible defender of Moscow’s most controversial positions, as he backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on numerous occasions. In one particularly memorable moment, then-U.S. ambassador Samantha Power brought up Aleppo atrocities and asked him, “Are you truly incapable of shame?” He fired back that she was acting “as if she is Mother Teresa herself.” Still, after learning of his death, Power took to Twitter to say she was “devastated” by the news. “Diplomatic maestro & deeply caring man who did all he cld to bridge US-RUS differences,” she wrote. Power’s predecessor, Susan Rice, also expressed her condolences, calling Churkin “highly effective and very funny.”

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Devastated by passing of Russian UN Amb Vitaly Churkin.Diplomatic maestro &deeply caring man who did all he cld to bridge US-RUS differences

— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) February 20, 2017

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Vitaly was a formidable adversary, but always a friend. My heartfelt condolences to his wife, Irina, his family and the Russian UN Mission https://t.co/hLx2bfnZlj

— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) February 20, 2017

Churkin’s death comes a little more than three months after another Russian died in the country’s diplomatic offices in New York. Sergei Krivov was found dead on Election Day, lying on the floor of the Russian Consulate on the Upper East Side. BuzzFeedlooked into the strange story earlier this month and found that much of it is still an unresolved mystery.

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