The outstanding Russian playwright Leonid Zorin, aged 95, died from heart failure.

      “He passed away last night. My husband had been sick for a long time,” - his widow Tatyana said. The place and time of the farewell ceremony has not been decided yet.

      Leonid Genrikhovich Zorin (Zaltsman was his real surname) was born in Baku on November 3, 1924. From 1948 he lived in Moscow. He wrote about 50 plays, including Friends and Years (1962), Warsaw Melody (1967), Pokrovsky Gate (1974) and others. Performances based on his plays were staged in lots of Russian and foreign theaters.

      The writer was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (1974) and Friendship of Peoples (1986) and held a number of literary prizes.