AFP – Russian film director Vladimir Menshov, winner of an Oscar for best foreign film, died of Covid-19 at age 81 on Monday, his colleagues at the Moscow State Film School (VGIK) announced.

"I have just learned of his death," director Vladimir Khotinenko, chairman of the VGIK feature film department, told AFP.

"We knew he was suffering from Covid-19 but in a mild way, it is absolutely horrible and unexpected," he added. "His death tears a large chunk out of our common culture," he said.

The Mosfilm studios in Moscow confirmed the death and the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobianin, lamented "an enormous loss for our cinema and our culture."

Born in 1939 in Baku, in Soviet Azerbaijan, Vladimir Menshov was an actor and later a director.

He became world-famous for his feature film "Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears," which won him the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1981, one of only two won by the Soviet Union.

He was also well-loved in Russia for his comedy "Love and Doves", released in 1984 and which remains one of the most-watched on Russian television.

Menshov, who directed over a dozen films, taught directing at VGIK.