Mystery as anti-war Russian TV chef, exiled to London, is found dead in hotel room in Serbia

An outspoken anti-war Russian TV chef exiled to London has been found dead in a hotel room in Serbia, according to reports.

Alexei Zimin, 52, owner of Zima restaurant in Soho, is said to have died during a trip to Belgrade.

He had not returned to Russia since he was exiled following his criticism of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea.

His gastronomic TV show on the NTV channel was then abruptly canceled in 2022 after he posted anti-war songs.

Zimin, who had a wife and a 17-year-old daughter, also worked as editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ, as well as Afisha Mir and Gourmet.

Pictured: Zima restaurant in Soho, London, which was owned by Zimin

Details about his death in Serbia are scarce and his cause of death remains unclear.

However, Russian magazine Moskvich said he had been found dead in a hotel in Belgrade, where he had been on an advertised tour to promote his new book called Anglomania.

A statement from his Zima magazine today said: “Alexei Zimin, the editor-in-chief of the project and the chef of Zima restaurant, has passed away.”

It added: ‘For us, Alexei was not just a colleague, he was our friend, a close person with whom we were lucky to have experienced a lot – both good, friendly and sad.

“Thank you everyone for the words we receive today about Alexei. We are in pain together with you.

“The entire Zima team extends its condolences to Alexei’s family and mourns with them.”

Zimin previously had several cooking shows in Russia, which ran for 11 years before being canceled due to his criticism of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

His London restaurant on Frith Street was advertised as offering ‘Russian cuisine with a modern twist in the heart of Soho’.

His Zima Club organized ‘various’ workshops, parties and other events’ and is popular with Russian expats in Britain.

It was seen as a platform for Russians who were labeled “foreign agents” by the Kremlin and forced into exile.

Zimin is survived by his wife Tatiana “Tanya” Dolmatovskaya, a costume designer who previously worked at Vogue Russia and graduated from the University of the Arts London, and their daughter Varvara, 17.

Three months after Putin’s invasion, he said in a post: “Russia will be free one way or another, or the third, more mysterious way.”

Zimin was also editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ, as well as Afisha Mir and Gourmet

Vladimir Putin pictured in the Kremlin on November 12 during a meeting

About his cancellation by pro-Kremlin NTV, he said: “11 years. For 22 television seasons I had a program on NTV on Saturday morning prime time.

‘It’s been gone since May….

‘There will be no new episodes due to the presenter’s anti-war position.

‘Do I regret it? No, I regret that we ultimately entered the war.

‘I don’t participate in the war, the war participates in me.’

He had also posted: ‘Stop the war. Withdraw troops. Bring our soldiers back home.”

He can be seen on a video singing lyrics of the famous Soviet and Russian poet and songwriter Bulat Okudzhava – Grab Your Coat, and Let’s Go Home.

This song reflects on the experiences of war-ravaged soldiers who long for home and peace.

The lines include “the war that has mowed us down in thousands, years of mothers without children” and “grab your coat, and let’s go home.”

Zimin joins a list of Russians who died early after fleeing Putin’s rule for Britain.

They include oligarch and political fixer Boris Berezovsky, who was found hanged in his Berkshire home in 2013, and his associate Nikolai Glushkov, who was found dead of neck compression five years later.

Putin’s secret services poisoned former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko with deadly radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2008.

He died, but an attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer who spied for Britain, failed despite the use of the Novichok nerve agent.