A popular host on Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) has been fired after tweeting about the death of a son of President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov.
State-controlled gas giant Gazprom's media arm Gazprom-Media, which owns the station, said on November 6 that Aleksandr Plyushchev had been dismissed "for violating the principles of professional ethics."
Sergei Ivanov's son Aleksandr, who avoided prosecution after he hit a killed an elderly woman while driving in Moscow in 2005, died on November 3. Media reports said he drowned in the United Arab Emirates.
Plyushchev wrote on Twitter on November 5: "Do you consider the death of Ivanov's son, who ran down and killed an old woman and sued her son-in-law, as proof that God exists?"
He later deleted the tweet and apologized.
Ekho Mosvky’s chief editor, Aleksei Venediktov, wrote on Twitter that none of his employees can be fired without his consent.
Based on reporting by Vedomosti and Interfax