AWLC to AR
LIST #1 (of murdered people)

November 23, 2006:
Former Federal Security Service agent and harsh Kremlin critic Aleksandr Litvinenko dies in London of a mysterious poisoning.

October 19, 2006:
Dmitry Fotyanov, a mayoral candidate in the Far East city of Dalnegorsk, is gunned down as he left his campaign headquarters. The killing came just a week before a scheduled runoff election in the Primorsky Krai city.

October 15, 2006:
Aleksandr Semyonov, a member of the Irbit city council who had spent 10 years in prison, is found dead with gunshot wounds in his back. Also, Anatoly Voronin, the head of ITAR-TASS's property management department, is found dead in his apartment. According to Moscow prosecutors, his body bore traces of violent death, including "multiple knife wounds."

October 7, 2006:
Prominent journalist and critic of the Kremlin's policy in Chechnya Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in her apartment building. Former Soviet President Gorbachev calls her slaying "a true political homicide, a vendetta."

September 14, 2006:
Central Bank Deputy Chairman Andrei Kozlov is gunned down in Moscow. Kozlov played a leading role in efforts to stamp out money laundering in Russian banks.

October 16, 2005:
Aleksandr Slesarev, former owner of two Russian banks, is shot dead with his wife and daughter outside of Moscow. "The murder may be linked with the revocation of a banking license and unfulfilled banking liabilities," a police representative said at the time.

March 17, 2005:
Anatoly Chubais , head of the state-controlled electricity monopoly and architect of Russia's controversial privatization in the early 1990s, survives an explosion near his car and a gun attack.

July 9, 2004:
Paul Klebnikov , a U.S. citizen and editor of the Russian-language version of Forbes magazine, is gunned down outside his Moscow office. Klebnikov had written at length about corruption, and Forbes had published a list of Russia's richest people.

March 2, 2004:
Novosibirsk Deputy Mayor Valery Maryasov, the official responsible for privatization in the Siberian city, is shot dead in his apartment building.

October 12, 2003:
Controversial businessman Andrei Andreyev, locked in court battle with Kremlin-connected aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, narrowly survives gun attack. Case unsolved.

July 3, 2003:
Yury Shchekochikhin, liberal lawmaker and investigative journalist, dies of a mysterious allergic reaction. Many believe it was a case of deliberate poisoning, but the incident was never investigated as a murder.

June 7, 2003:
Sergei Shchitko, the commercial director of the RATEP defense plant, is found shot to death in his car in Serpukhov, a small city near about 90 kilometers south of Moscow.

June 6, 2003:
Igor Klimov, the acting general director of defense contractor Almaz-Antei, is shot dead outside his home in downtown Moscow.

April 17, 2003:
Sergei Yushenkov, veteran liberal politician and leader of a staunchly anti-Kremlin party, is shot dead.

March 14, 2003:
Promeksimbank Vice President Andrei Ivanov is killed in Moscow.

November 6, 2002:
Promyshlenno-stroitelnyi Bank Director Leonid Davidenko is killed in St. Petersburg.

October 18, 2002:
Magadan Oblast Governor Valentin Tsvetkov is shot dead in central Moscow. He had been trying to crack down on rampant crime in his Pacific region's gold and oil industries.

June 3, 2002:
Alfavit financial group Chairman Pavel Shcherbakov is killed in Moscow.

May 21, 2002:
Major-General Vitaly Gamov, commander of border guards on the Far Eastern Sakhalin Island, dies in an arson attack on his apartment. The attack is believed to have been motivated by his attempts to clamp down on illegal seafood smuggling.

June 29, 2000:
Akademkhimbank Chairman Sergei Ponamarev is killed in Moscow.

December 30, 1999:
Businessman Mikhail Dakhya is killed by a sniper in central St Petersburg. Dakhya was in the timber business in Novgorod Oblast.

November 17, 1999:
Intersvyazbank Chairman Sergei Belov is killed in Moscow.

November 20, 1998:
Galina Starovoitova was gunned down in the entrance to her St. Petersburg apartment building in November 1998 (AFP file photo)
Galina Starovoitova , a leading liberal State Duma deputy and human rights campaigner, is shot dead by gunmen at her apartment building in St Petersburg. Her aide, Ruslan Linkov, is seriously injured.

August 1998:
Aleksandr Shkadov, chief executive of Russia's biggest diamond-processing plant, Kristall, is shot dead in an apparent contract killing in Smolensk.

August 3, 1998:
Promstriogaz bank President Yury Bezruchenko is killed in Moscow.

July 3, 1998:
Lev Rokhlin , State Duma deputy and Defense Committee chairman, is shot dead near Moscow. He was involved in controversial efforts to reform the military. Rokhlin's widow was accused of the crime but maintained her innocence.

June 8, 1998:
"Sovetskaya Kalmykia Segodnya" Editor in Chief Larissa Yudina is killed after being beaten and stabbed. She was a vocal critic of Kalmykia President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and members of his inner circle are later implicated in the killing.

February 6, 1998:
New Moscow bank Chairman Dmitry Levchenko is killed in Moscow.

August 19, 1997:
St. Petersburg Deputy Governor Mikhail Manevich, who oversaw the city's privatization program, is shot dead by a sniper while driving on Nevsky Prospekt.

June 17, 1997:
Larisa Nechayeva, director of Russia's top soccer club Spartak Moscow, is shot dead near Moscow in a contract killing.

April 22, 1997:
Valentin Sych, head of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, is shot dead in a contract killing outside Moscow. The former head of the league was charged with his murder.

January 14, 1997:
Kutuzovsky bank Chairman Yury Repin is killed in Moscow.

November 3, 1996:
Paul Tatum, U.S. businessman who co-owned one of Moscow's most prestigious hotels, is shot dead with a submachine gun at Moscow subway underpass. Tatum was involved in long-running dispute with Russian partners over control of hotel.

June 13, 1996:
Vladimir Oberderfer, a regional representative of nationalist presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky is shot dead in the Siberian mining city Novokuznetsk. Novokuznetsk police said the likely motive lay in Oberderfer's activities as an owner of a trading business, rather than politics.

June 13, 1996:
Viktor Mosalov, mayor of Zhukovsky in Moscow Oblast, is shot three times in the head Local police ruled out a political motive and said local officials are ''more economic than political leaders."

June 6, 1996:
Valery Shantsev, candidate for the post of deputy mayor of Moscow, was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded as he was leaving his apartment building.


November 28, 1995:
Moscow police secure a murder scene (epa file photo).
State Duma Deputy Sergei Markidonov of the Stability faction, is shot in the head during a campaign trip to Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky in Chita Oblast.

October 17, 1995:
Mosstroibank President Mikhail Zhuravlyov is killed in Moscow.

August 5, 1995:
Russian Business Roundtable head and Rosbiznesbank Chairman Ivan Kivelidi is poisoned to death. Kivelidi had been openly critical of Russian police for failing to protect businesspeople or investigate their murders, especially in the wake of the July 21 killing of banker Oleg Kantor.

July 20, 1995:
Yugorsky bank Chairman Oleg Kantor is killed by being repeatedly stabbed at his country house outside of Moscow. Yugorsky bank was heavily involved in the oil and gas sectors.

April 1995:
Sergei Kushnaryov, a founding member of Russia's Agrarian Party, is stabbed to death in a suspected contract killing.

March 1995:
Alla Gnezdilova, a judge, is murdered in Birobidzhan, the capital of Russia's far eastern Jewish Autonomous Region, in an apparent contract killing.

March 1, 1995:
Russian Public Television head Vladislav Listyev is shot in the heart by an unknown gunman outside his Moscow home. The attack is linked to opponents of an advertising ban he had proposed for the television channel.

November 5, 1994:
State Duma Deputy Valentin Martemyanov of the Communist Party, dies of wounds suffered during a vicious beating in Moscow several days earlier. The killing is never explained.

April 26, 1994:
State Duma Deputy Andrei Aizderdis of the New Regional Policy faction, is shot to death with a hunting rifle outside his Moscow home.

February 2, 1994:
State Duma Deputy Sergei Skorochkin of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party is killed in Moscow, his body hand-cuffed to railway tracks.

October 17, 1994:
Investigative journalist Dmitry Kholodov, who specialized on corruption in the Defense Ministry, is killed when a briefcase he picked up at a Moscow train station after an anonymous tip blows up in his office.




LIST #2 (of murdered people)

Gaji Abashilov - 21 March 2008
Abashilov was a Russian journalist and chief of Dagestan's outlet of state-owned VGTRK media company. He was assassinated in Makhachkala on 21 March 2008 at 19:45 local time.
[1]Gaji Abashilov was born in the Gunib district of Dagestan, graduated Dagestan State University (foreign languages faculty). In 1975-91 he was employed in local Komsomolstructures, in late 80s he led Dagestani VLKSM Commetee. In 1991-2006 hewas chief editor of "Molodezh' Dagestana" (Molodezh' Dagestana, Youths of Dagestan).In 1999 he was elected a member of local legislature, then was appointed deputy head of republican Ministry of information. In January 2007 he became a chief of TV company "Dagestan", local outlet of VGTRK.Gaji Abashilov was assasinated in the evening of March 21; his car was fired on in the central part of Makhachkala. In the early hours of the same day another Dagestani journalist, Ilyas Shurpayev, who had worked for years in the republic as a correspondent of NTV and Channel One was found strangled.

Leonid Rozhetskin - March 16, 2008
Rozhetskin is an international financier and lawyer credited with bringingsignificant financial and legal advances to modern Russia. He currently co-owns L+E Productions, a movie production company in Los Angeles, California.On March 16, 2008 Rozhetskin disappeared from his house in Jurmala, Latvia

Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili - Feb 12 2008
Patarkatsishvili was a wealthy Georgian Jewish businessman, who was also extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes. Patarkatsishvili, aged 52, collapsed and passed away at Downside Manor, his country mansion in Leatherhead, Surrey, England on February 12, 2008at 10.45 pm. The South East Coast Ambulance Service staff tried to resuscitate the businessman but were unsuccessful and the Georigan oligarch was finally announced dead at 10.52 pm. Died of a heart attack in his mansion according to the press reports and releases. No indication of foul play, but many site the number of compounds used by the FSB that can cause heart attacks with little trace.

Yevgeny Chivilikhin - Feb 7, 2008
A prominent Moscow businessman was shot dead overnight in what police believed was a contract killing, Russian media reported on Thursday. Yevgeny Chivilikhin, president of the Moscow Markets and Fairs Guild, died from several wounds to the head after being ambushed by an unknown gunman at the entrance to his house in central area of the Russian capital. In 2006, Chivilikhin escaped unhurt when a bomb exploded near his house.

Oleg Zhukovsky - Dec. 2007
Authorities opened a murder investigation Friday into the death of a senior executive at state-run bank VTB, who was found dead with his legs bound, in a swimming pool at his luxury dacha outside Moscow. The body of Oleg Zhukovsky, a VTB managing director who handled accounts in the notoriously murky timber industry, was discovered Thursday in the pool at his dacha in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, Oleg Krasnoshchyokov, a duty officer with the Odintsovo police department, said Friday. Zhukovsky's arms and legs had been tied up and a plastic bag was tied around his head, Krasnoshchyokov said.

Ivan Ivanovich Safronov - March 2, 2007
Safronov was a Russian journalist and columnist who covered military affairs for the daily newspaper Kommersant. He died after falling from the fifth floor of his Moscow apartment building. His apartment was on the third floor. There are speculations that he may have been killed for his critical reporting. The Taganka District prosecutor's office in Moscow has initiated a criminal investigation into Safronov's death.

IVAN SAFRONOV - March 2007
Ivan Safronov, a veteran military correspondent for the Kommersant newspaper, died in a mysterious fall from the fifth floor of his Moscow apartment building on 5 March 2007. At the time of his death, Safronov, a former colonel in the Russian armed forces, had been investigating alleged Russian plans to sell weapons and military aircraft to Iran and Syria via Belarus, as well as working on another article on the proposed sale of tactical missiles to Syria. Prosecutors initially suggested that suicide was the most likely explanation, although Safronov's colleagues at hisnewspaper as well as a number of other journalists said this was highly unlikely. The investigation into his death is ongoing.

ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA - October 2006
Anna Politkovskaya, a renowned journalist and Kremlin critic best known for her reporting of atrocities in Chechnya and corruption amongst Russian officials, was shot dead in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment block on 7 October 2006. The 48-year-old, who enjoyed a higher profile abroad than in Russia itself, had been employed by the twice-weekly Novaya Gazeta newspaper as an investigative reporter since 1999, following a five-year stint at another liberal-minded newspaper, Obshchaya Gazeta. Her final article, which she was still writing at the time of her death, focused on the use of torture by the authorities in Chechnya. The investigation into her death is ongoing.

ANDREY KOZLOV - September 2006
Andrey Kozlov, first deputy chairman at the Central Bank of Russia, died in hospital on 14 September 2006, hours after being shot by two unidentified gunmen in a Moscow street. His driver was killed in the same attack. Kozlov built his reputation in Russian banking by spearheading a drive against white-collar crime. Under his supervision, the CBR revoked the licences of a number of banks suspected of involvement in moneylaundering and other criminal activity. Aleksey Frenkel, a senior executive at two of the banks to lose their licences, was arrested inJanuary 2007 and charged with ordering Kozlov's killing. He denies anyinvolvement. Police have also arrested several others they believe carried out the murder itself.

ALEKSANDR SLESAREV - October 2005
Banker Aleksandr Slesarev, his wife and his daughter were killed in a drive-by shooting on a road near Moscow on 16 October 2005. Slesarev was the former owner of Sodbiznesbank, which had its banking licence revoked by the Central Bank of Russia in May 2004 on suspicion of money laundering, charges it denied. This move led to a crisis in Russian banking, with other lending institutions fearing they would meet the same fate. Another bank owned by Slesarev, Kredittrast, was declared bankrupt in August 2004. Slesarev's killers have never been caught.

ANATOLIY TROFIMOV - April 2005
Gen Anatoliy Trofimov, formerly deputy head of Russia's Federal Security Service, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Moscow on 10 April 2005. His wife sustained serious injuries in the attack and died a few hours later. Trofimov, who was appointed as deputy FSB chief and Moscow security chief by then President Boris Yeltsin in January 1995, was sacked just over two years later for "gross violations and flaws in his work". Investigators initially said the most likely explanation for Trofimov's murder was a contract killing relating to his business dealings, but the crime remains unsolved.

PAUL KLEBNIKOV - July 2004
Paul Klebnikov, the 41-year-old editor-in-chief of the Forbes business magazine's Russian edition, was shot dead as he left his Moscow office on 9 July 2004. A US citizen of Russian descent, Klebnikov joined Forbes in 1989 before launching its Russian edition in April 2004. An outspoken critic of Russia's oligarchs, he also published a best-selling book inwhich he was highly critical of the exiled business tycoon, Boris Berezovskiy. In May 2006, a Moscow court cleared three men of murdering Klebnikov on the orders of a former Chechen rebel leader, but six months later the Russian Supreme Court overturned the ruling and ordered a new trial. Proceedings in this new trial are currently suspended after one of the defendants disappeared and was placed on the federal wanted list.

YURIY SHCHEKOCHIKHIN - July 2003
Yuriy Shchekochikhin, an opposition MP and deputy editor of the twice-weekly Novaya Gazeta newspaper, died in a Moscow hospital on 3 July 2003 after contracting an unexplained illness. The 53-year-old was best known for his reporting of organized crime and corruption, and at the time of his death was investigating the alleged involvement of the Russian security services in a series of bombings in residential areas of Moscow in 1999. He was also a fierce critic of Russian government policy in Chechnya and a prominent member of the Memorial human rights group. Shchekochikhin's family, friends and colleagues suggested he may have been poisoned, possibly with a radioactive substance, as punishment for one of his exposes. But his family is said to have failed to secure access to medical records.

IGOR KLIMOV - June 2003
Igor Klimov, acting director-general of Almaz-Antey, Russia's largest manufacturer of antiaircraft missiles, was shot dead near his home in central Moscow on 6 June 2003 by unidentified gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms. Klimov, a former intelligence officer, had only taken charge of the company in February, and his death came just weeks before a permanentchief executive was due to be appointed. Hours after Klimov was shot,gunmen also killed Sergey Shchitko, commercial director of one of Almaz-Antey's subsidiaries. In October 2005, a Moscow court convicted five men of carrying out Klimov's murder and handed them prison sentences ranging from 22 years to life. Two other men were arrested in May 2006 and charged with masterminding the killing - they are due to go on trial in June 2007.

SERGEY YUSHENKOV - April 2003
Veteran liberal MP Sergey Yushenkov was shot dead outside his home in a Moscow suburb on 17 April 2003, just hours after registering his new party, Liberal Russia. A member of parliament since 1990, Yushenkov was well known to Russians for his liberal views and his opposition to many areas of government policy. After Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, Yushenkov and his associates founded Liberal Russia, but differences among its leaders forced the movement to split into two factions. Just under a year after Yushenkov was killed, a Moscow court convicted a member of the rival Liberal Russia faction, Mikhail Kodanev, of ordering the murder and sent him to prison for 20 years. Another man was convicted of carrying out the attack and was given the same sentence. However, Kodanev's associate, exiled tycoon Boris Berezovskiy, said the Russian authorities were behind the crime.

VALENTIN TSVETKOV - October 2002
Valentin Tsvetkov, governor of the gold-rich Magadan Region in Russia's Far East, was gunned down in one of Moscow's busiest shopping streets during rush hour on the morning of 18 October 2002. It was the first time in the history of post-Soviet Russia that a regional governor had been murdered. The killing was thought to be related to Tsvetkov's attempts to establish control over the region's principal industries of gold mining, oil and fishing. In July 2006 Spanish police detained two Russian men as prime suspects in the case, but they are yet to face trial.

VLADIMIR GOLOVLEV - August 2002
Vladimir Golovlev, an MP and one of the leaders of the small opposition party Liberal Russia, was shot dead on 21 August 2002 while walking his dog near his Moscow home.
The killing came just months after Golovlev had switched to Liberal Russia, founded by the exiled tycoon Boris Berezovskiy, from the Union of Right Forces (SPS). While still a member of SPS, Golovlev was stripped of this parliamentary immunity so that prosecutors could press corruption charges against him in connection with property dealings in Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals. No-one has ever been convicted of his murder.

VITALIY GAMOV - May 2002
Maj-Gen Vitaliy Gamov, commander of the border guards on the Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, died in a Japanese hospital on 28 May 2002, one week after an arson attack on his apartment on Sakhalin. Gamov's wife, Larisa, suffered severe burns in the attack but survived. The attack was seen as retribution for the general's attempts to clamp down on illegal fishing. In December 2006, a court on Sakhalin sentenced three people to four years in prison for the attack. One of those convicted had been the subject of a manhunt until an investigator's wife spotted his name in the credits of atelevision show. However, prosecutors have not pressed murder charges against anyone.

GALINA STAROVOYTOVA - November 1998
Galina Starovoytova, a respected MP and prominent member of the Russian opposition, was shot dead outside her apartment in St Petersburg. Starovoytova, who enjoyed great respect outside Russia for her commitment to human rights and was seen by her admirers as a champion of democracy, at one time advised President Boris Yeltsin on interethnic relations and human rights. In June 2005, a court sentenced two men, Yuriy Kolchin and Vitaliy Akishin, to 20 and 23 years respectively for Starovoytova's murder. Four other defendants were acquitted.

ALEKSANDR SHKADOV - August 1998
Aleksandr Shkadov, one of the highest-ranking executives in the Russian diamond industry, was shot dead near his home in the town of Smolensk on 1 August 1998. Shkadov was managing director of Kristall, Russia's largest diamond processing factory, and president of the Russian Association of Diamond Processors. The crime remains unsolved.

LEV ROKHLIN - July 1998
Lev Rokhlin, a former Russian army general and MP, was shot dead at his country home near Moscow on 3 July 1998. Rokhlin, who was 51 at the time, had previously commanded the Russian forces which recaptured the Chechen capital of Groznyy from rebels in 1995. Subsequently, however, he condemned Russian army conduct in the republic and was involved in controversial efforts to reform the military. Two years after Rokhlin's death, his widow, Tamara, was found guilty of his murder, but the Supreme Court overturned the verdict two years into her prison sentence. The case went to a retrial, and, in November 2005, Rokhlina was convicted for a second time and given a suspended four-year sentence.

MIKHAIL MANEVICH - August 1997
Mikhail Manevich, deputy governor of St Petersburg and the head of the city's privatization committee, was shot dead in his official car on his way to work, apparently by a sniper. His wife, who was also in the car, escaped with minor injuries. The 36-year-old had been deputy governor for a year, and was also heavily involved in drawing up privatization legislation and plans for a national housing and public utilities programme. In the 10 years since Manevich's murder, investigators have questioned more than 2,000 witnesses, but, despite naming a number of suspects, they are yet to press charges.

YURIY POLYAKOV - December 1996
Yuriy Polyakov, an MP from the left-leaning Power to the People faction (Narodovlastiye), was abducted in Krasnodar Region in southern Russia on December 1996. He was last seen alive leaving the offices of the state-owned farm which he managed, heading for his family home a few hundred metres away. Investigators suggested Polyakov's abduction may have been linked to his business interests. His body was never found, but police pronounced him presumed dead two years later and his kidnappers have never been caught.

PAUL TATUM - November 1996
US businessman and hotelier Paul Tatum was shot dead in a Moscow underpass in 1996. At the time he was embroiled in a long-running dispute with the Chechen-born businessman Umar Dzhabrailov and other local partners over ownership of Moscow's Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel. Dzhabrailov was questioned by police following Tatum's murder but he has dismissed all accusations of involvement in any sort of crime. Tatum's killers have never been caught.

ANATOLIY STEPANOV - May 1996
Anatoliy Stepanov, a deputy justice minister, was found dead at the entrance to his Moscow apartment block on 23 May 1996. Police initially claimed Stepanov had been shot dead but later they said he was probably killed by a blow to the head with a blunt, heavy instrument. Investigators suggested he was killed by an acquaintance, but no-one has ever been charged with his murder. Stepanov had been in his post almost three years and was in charge of monitoring lawyers.

SERGEY MARKIDONOV - November 1995
Sergey Markidonov, an MP from the small Stability group, was shot dead by his bodyguard in his Siberian constituency on 26 November 1995. The bodyguard, who was drunk, committed suicide immediately afterwards. The 34-year-old Markidonov was on the campaign trail at the time, in preparation for the following month's parliamentary elections.

VLADISLAV LISTYEV - March 1995
Vladislav Listyev, director-general of Russian Public Television, Russia's only fully national TV network at the time, was shot dead by the entrance to his Moscow apartment block on 1 March 1995. Listyev, who was 38 at the time, was one of Russia's favourite television presenters, and had helped to devise a range of highly popular and innovative programmes in the years before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His death was mourned across Russia and provoked a huge public outcry. Despite a lengthy investigation, the crime remains unsolved.

SERGEY SKOROCHKIN - February 1995
Sergey Skorochkin, an MP from Vladimir Zhirinovskiy's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, was kidnapped in Moscow Region on 1 February 2005 and found dead in a nearby forest shortly afterwards. There was some suggestion the killing was linked to Skorochkin's business interests. The case was brought to trial on several occasions and although the defendants were acquitted, on each occasion the Supreme Court ordered retrials. The case was closed in 2005 under the statute of limitations, 10 years after the murder took place.

VALENTIN MARTEMYANOV - November 1994
Communist MP Valentin Martemyanov was beaten up and robbed in the street near his Moscow home on 1 November 1994 and died four days later of his injuries. Some of Martemyanov's political associates linked his death to his efforts to recover party property, but others believe robbery was the primary motivation. The killers have never been traced.

DMITRIY KHOLODOV - October 1994
Dmitriy Kholodov, a reporter for the popular Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper, died on 17 October 1994 when a briefcase he had been told topick up at a railway station exploded in the newspaper's Moscow offices. At the time the 27-year-old was investigating corruption in the Russian military. Six years later a court found six men, for of them former army officers, not guilty of murdering Kholodov. A retrial at a military court in 2002 resulted in a similar verdict. In 2005 Russia's Supreme Court upheld those rulings.

ANDREY AYDZERDIS - April 1994
Russian MP and businessman Andrey Aydzerdis was shot dead in a Moscow suburb on 26 April 1994. It was the first time a member of the Russian parliament had been assassinated and the killing was widely covered in the media. Aydzerdis, a member of the New Regional Policy faction, was chairman of a bank and owned a newspaper which had published the names of hundreds of individuals alleged to be involved in organized crime. Police linked the murder to his business interests.

NIKOLAY LIKHACHEV - December 1993
Nikolay Likhachev, one of Russia's leading bankers, was shot dead by gunmen near his Moscow home on 2 December 1993. Likhachev, chairman of a major commercial bank, Rosselkhozbank, had worked in the Soviet and Russian banking systems since the 1970s. Russian banks observed a day of mourning several days after his death.