Lt Pirawat Yodta of the Karon Police reported that police were called to the scene, on the steep hill on Patak Rd just north of the Karon Beach area, at 12:45pm.
At the scene officers found the Russian man on the northbound side of the road, as was the Honda Click motorbike he was riding and a large amount of debris scattered across the road.
The Russian man, unconscious and unresponsive, was rushed to Patong Hospital but later pronounced dead.
Stopped on the northbound side of the road was a white Foton passenger van registered in Surat Thani. The driver of the van, Amnuay Kaewnak, 57, a resident of Surat Thani province, was waiting at the scene. The van was registered as a commercial passenger vehicle, police noted.
From their initial investigation, officers determined that the Russian man was at fault in the accident.
He was riding southbound down the steep hill when he lost control of the motorbike and drove head-on into the passenger van. The van driver, Mr Amnuay, had no way of avoiding the collision, police surmised.
In order to settle the matter of B65,000 in damages to the vehicles, police were prepared to posthumously charge the Russian man with reckless driving causing damage to property.
That procedure was avoided by the relatives of the Russian man confirming yesterday they were willing to pay the amount in full, Karon Police reported.
Of the total damages claimed, B40,000 was for the motorbike.
The death of the Russian man on Tuesday marked Phuket already recording the same number of road deaths as recognised by officials for all of last year: 71.
Also according to the Thailand Road Safety Committee (ThaiRSC) yesterday, so far this year 11,984 people in Phuket have suffered injuries requiring hospital treatment.
Last year, 13,076 people were injured in road accidents on the island.