Soviet and Russian composer Yuri Martynov has died.

Yuri Martynov, a Soviet and Russian composer and Honored Artist of Russia, has died at the age of 67. On March 2, Anna Pugach, the wife of his co-author, songwriter Andrey Dementiev, told Izvestia.

"I met him about a month ago at the cemetery. He kept his brother's memory very sacred.… After Evgeny Martynov left, he devoted his whole life to the memory of his brother and the promotion of his work.", she said.

Martynov died on Saturday, March 1. Pugach also said that the composer had been seriously ill before.

Yuri Martynov was born on April 17, 1957 in Donetsk region. During his career, he wrote songs that were performed by our pop stars: Lyudmila Zykina, Alexander Serov, Nikolai Karachentsov, Philip Kirkorov and many others. In 1987, Martynov was elected to the Russian Union of Composers. In 2003, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. He also wrote music for the Moscow Philharmonic State Symphony Orchestra, the Large Children's Choir of Radio and Television, the State Russian Folk Ensemble Rossiya, and many others.