Russian Soviet-era poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday in Oklahoma, the United States, at the age of 84, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Yevtushenko's wife told the news agency Friday that the poet had been hospitalized in serious condition and the doctors were conducting medical examinations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Yevtushenko's family, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding: "His legacy is an integral part of the Russian culture."

The poet, who was also a novelist, movie director and essayist, was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963.

Yevtushenko and his family moved to the United States in 1991.

source: Xinhua