MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100, according to a statement from his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates Inc.

He died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut, it said.

One of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century, he was named as the most efficient US Secretary of State in the past 50 years, according to a Foreign Policy poll. However, his activity as the national security adviser and the secretary of state came under criticism from both liberals and pacifists and the right-wing politicians. Human rights activists accused Kissinger of involvement in repressions in several Latin American countries including Argentina and Chile, when the military came to power in these counties in the 1970s with the support from US special services.

Kissinger visited Russia many times and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin more than ten times. Their first meeting took place in July 2001 and the last one - on June 29, 2017. He called for treating Russia as an important element in the new system of global balance, saying that the balance between Russia and the United States would enhance stability in the world. He also repeatedly said that Washington needed to recognize Russia’s "hegemony" in the former Soviet republics, from Belarus to Kazakhstan.

He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for promoting the end of US military involvement in the Vietnam War. His other awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977), Order of the British Empire (Knight Commander, 1995), Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor (2012). In 2009, he was the first to receive the Ewald von Kleist Award of the Munich Security Conference. He held honorary titles of several universities and academies, including the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy. In 2016, he was elected a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.