Boris Strugatsky dies

Acclaimed Soviet Russian science-fiction writer Boris Strugatsky has died at the age of 79.

Friends of the writer said he died in a St. Petersburg hospital, where he had been admitted a few days ago in what doctors had described as a "grave condition."

Strugatsky was famous for authoring, together with his brother Arkady, dozens of deeply philosophical science-fiction novels critical of Soviet authorities.

The Strugatsky brothers were widely popular throughout the former Soviet Union and in many other former Soviet bloc countries.

Their collaboration began in 1958 and lasted until Arkady's death in 1991.

A number of the Strugatsky brothers' novels have been adapted for the screen, including by Andrei Tarkovsky in his famous movie "Stalker."

Boris Strugatsky published two novels after his brother's death.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax