MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev died at the age of 80 in Moscow, the Court’s press office told TASS on Saturday.

The Supreme Court chairman died after an illness, the health authorities specified.

Lebedev was appointed as the Supreme Court chairman in July 1989.

"Lebedev made an invaluable contribution to strengthening and developing the national judicial system, establishing constitutional and legislative fundamentals of an independent judiciary and forming judicial community institutions," the Supreme Court said in a statement.