Russian ex-premier Chernomyrdin dies

MOSCOW, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin died early Wednesday morning at 72, Russian media reported.

Chernomyrdin was prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin (1992-98). He was appointed ambassador to Ukraine in 2001 and became a presidential adviser last year, RIA Novosti reported.

Chernomyrdin, a supporter of Yeltsin's economic and privatization policies, was Soviet minister of oil and gas industries in the 1980s and converted it into the state-owned Gazprom company in 1989. He was chairman of the board, and his stake made him one of Russia's richest men.

Chernomyrdin will be buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife Valentina, who died in March, the Rossiya 24 television channel said.

The cemetery is the final resting place of many famous Russians, including Yeltsin and Nikita Khrushchev and writers Nikolai Gogol and Anton Chekhov.