Zimyanin died of lung and heart problems, the agency said Wednesday, but it did not say where. He died Monday, according to an anonymous fax sent to news organizations.
He was one of the last Brezhnev stalwarts to serve in a high Soviet government post, serving on the party secretariat until his retirement was announced "for health reasons'' in January 1987. Western news reports at the time -- nearly two years into Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms -- said he had been ousted.
Zimyanin was born in Vitebsk, Belarus, in 1914. He was chief editor of Pravda from 1965 until 1976.
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