"Leonid Vasilyevich Potapov has died," - leads the message of TASS.
The government of Buryatia added that the family of the first president of the republic will receive assistance.
The head of the region, Alexey Tsydenov, expressed condolences to Potapov's family and friends.
"Leonid Vasilyevich devoted his life to Buryatia, during the years of his leadership in the region in the most difficult time for our state, he achieved the progressive development of the republic in all directions," the text says.
According to the agency's source in the Ministry of Health of the Republic, Potapov was hospitalized with coronavirus infection.
In recent years, he worked at the Buryat Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Earlier it was reported about the death of the former governor of the Volgograd region Nikolai Maksyuta.