Anton Nossik, 'godfather' of Russian internet, dies at 51

The prominent Russian blogger and internet
 entrepreneur Anton Nossik has died from a heart attack 
aged 51.

Nossik was often described as the godfather of the 
Russian internet, co-founding and editing Russia's 
biggest online publications.

News of his death has sent shockwaves through 
Russian social media.

He argued throughout his career that the internet has
 always been "an island of freedom" and would remain 
so despite efforts to curtail it.

"It's simply impossible to believe," tweeted the opposition
politician Ilya Yashin. "Rest in peace, my friend!"
Syria criticism A dual Russian and Israeli citizen, he was outspoken in his condemnation of the government's 
efforts to tighten official control over the internet.

Mr Nossik worked as editor of some of Russia's
 biggest  online news publications including News.ru,
 Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.

"For decades, he has been a prolific blogger of cutting
commentaries that spared no one, least of all the Kremlin,"
 the Moscow Times said,In 2012 Nossik defended 
members of the Pussy Riot punk group who had been 
jailed for staging a performance which criticised
President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral.

Later, he was fined for a blog relating to Russia's 
support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, a country 
he said should be wiped from the face of the earth.

In the blog he welcomed Russian airstrikes on the 
country,arguing civilian deaths in Syria were a price worth paying for the destruction of a country he likened to Nazi Germany and was a threat to Israel.