Russian anti-war TV personality exiled to London ‘found dead in hotel room’

A vocal opponent of Russia’s war in Ukraine has been found dead aged 52.

Alexei Zimin, a popular chef on Russian television and respected editor, reportedly died in a hotel room on a trip to Belgrade, Serbia.

He owned Zima restaurant in Soho, London, having set up the restaurant after leaving Russia following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea in 2022.

He hasn’t been back to his homeland since then, when his cooking television programme on NTV was abruptly cancelled after he criticised Russia’s invasion.

He also used to work as editor-in-chief at the Russian edition of GQ, as well as Afisha Mir and Gourmet.

Details about Alexei’s death in Serbia are scarce, and the cause of his death is not yet known.

A statement from Zima said: ‘For us, Alexei was not only a colleague, he was our friend, a close person with whom we were lucky to go through a lot – both good, kind and sad.

‘Thank you to everyone for the words we receive today about Alexei. We are hurting together with you.

‘The entire Zima team expresses condolences to Alexei’s family and mourns together with them.’

Alexei previously had several cooking shows in Russia, which had run for 11 years before being halted amid his criticism of Putin’s war.

Moskvich magazine in Russia said he had been found dead in a hotel in Belgrade where he had been on an advertised tour promoting his new book called Anglomania.

His London restaurant in Frith Street offered ‘Russian cuisine with a modern twist in the heart of Soho’.

His Zima Club ran workshops, parties and other events and is popular with Russian expats in the UK.

It was seen as providing a platform for Russians labelled ‘foreign agents’ by the Kremlin, and forced into exile.

Alexei is survived by his wife Tatiana ‘Tanya’ Dolmatovskaya, a costume designer who previously worked at Vogue Russia and graduated from the University of the Arts London, and their daughter Varvara, 17.

In a post three months after Putin’s invasion he said: ‘Russia will be free, one way or another, or the third, more mysterious, way.’

On his cancellation by pro-Kremlin NTV, he said: ’11 years. For 22 television seasons I had a programme on Saturday morning prime time on NTV.

‘Since May it has been gone. There will be no new episodes because of the host’s anti-war position.

‘Do I regret it? No, I regret that we ended up participating in the war. I do not participate in the war, the war participates in me.’

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