"Oldest Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Mikhailovna Alexeyeva, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights and the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, died in Moscow at the age of 91,” the council said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed deepest condolences over the death of Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a prominent Soviet and Russian rights activist, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.
The president “highly appreciated Lyudmila Alexeyeva's contribution to forming the Russian civil society, and highly respected her principled stance on many issues,” Peskov said.
Putin has extended his condolences to the rights activist’s family, he added.
Alexeyeva was a prominent Soviet dissident and one of the founding members of the Moscow Helsinki Group, which was aimed at monitoring the Soviet Union’s compliance with the Helsinki Accords. She continued to be an active rights defendant to this day.