Journalist Dmitry Tsilikin, 54, a regular contributor to the Russian newspapers Vedomosti and Kommersant; working on TV and radio as well as for print media such as Vogue and Elle.was found murdered in his St. Petersburg apartment, local news website Fontanka reported Thursday.

Mr Tsilikin had reportedly just returned from a trip to the Latvian capital, Riga.

Friends and family last spoke to him at the end of last week.

Mr Tsilikin was found with multiple knife wounds and it is believed he may have been dead for at least two days.

The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the murder

He had worked as an actor before starting to write about music and ballet in the 1990s, becoming a well-known television commentator and personality.

He was a graduate of the Leningrad State Institute of Music and Cinema.