Posted on 10/18/2002 12:31:20 AM PDT by HAL9000
A Russian governor assassinated in full center of Moscow
Friday October 18, 2002 - 7h07 GMT
MOSCOW, Oct. 18 (AFP) - the governor of the area of Magadan (the Far East), Valentine Tsvetkov, was assassinated Friday by balls in the center of Moscow by two unknown, announced police sources contacted by the AFP.
He was killed towards 09H00 (05H00 GMT) close to a restaurant of the avenue Novii Arbat, according to the Interfax agency. Its assassins used a silencer, according to the same source.
The killers also aimed his assistant but this one was not wounded, according to television NTV.
The artery of Novii Arbat, bordered of shops and restaurants, one of is attended of Moscow and among best supervised.
It seems that it is the first time that a governor of area is assassinated in the Russian capital.
A deputy of Douma (Lower House), Vladimir Golovlev (45 years) had been assassinated by balls on August 21 in Moscow.
The governor, born in 1948, was elected for the first time in 1996 and was re-elected in 2000.
Last year, Russia was the theatre of 327 murders financed, according to the Russian Parquet floor.
The gold mines are the principal financial resource of the area of Magadan sadly celebrates at the time Soviet for his camps of work which had been set up since 1932 in all the area of Kolyma to exploit the mining richnesses under extreme conditions (nine winter months and temperatures of less 50 degrees.
Friday, 18 October, 2002, 07:37 GMT 08:37 UK
Russian governor shot dead in Moscow
The governor of one of Russia's eastern regions has been shot dead in central Moscow.
Police say Valentin Tsvetkov was gunned down at about 0915 local time (0515 GMT) in Moscow's Novy Arbat, one of the capital's busiest shopping thoroughfares.
Investigators say he was killed by at least two gunmen, who reportedly escaped by car.
Mr Tsvetkov had been the governor of the gold-rich Magadan region since 1996.
His death marks the second killing of a Russian politician in less than two months, after State Duma deputy Vladimir Golovlev was assassinated on 21 August.
Eyewitnesses
Police said Mr Tsvetkov was shot in the head near his office, a short distance from the Kremlin.
Russian television said Mr Tsvetkov's deputy was also attacked but escaped unhurt.
The killing was witnessed by a number of bystanders who have given police information.
"We have a facial description of the suspect," said Moscow Police Chief Mikhail Avdyukov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Prosecutor General and Interior Minister to take control of the investigation into Mr Tsvetkov's death.
Contract killings of businessmen and politicians are common in Moscow, despite efforts to dispel the city's gangland image.
Mr Tsvetkov, 54, became a Russian deputy in 1995 and won a second term as governor of Magadan in November, 2000.
Russian Regional Governor Shot Dead in Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The governor of a gold-rich Russian region was shot dead on Friday by a contract killer at morning rush hour on one of Moscow's busiest streets not far from the Kremlin, police said.
Valentin Tsvetkov, governor of the Magadan region in the far east which was the notorious site of Stalin-era labor camps, was gunned down on Moscow's Novy Arbat, a glitzy thoroughfare of casinos and expensive fashion shops leading to the Kremlin.
Tsvetkov, 54 and in power since 1996, was shot in the head by one of two assailants near his regional office, Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin told reporters.
"According to our preliminary investigations, the contract killer shot him and the main version is that the murder was connected to his (Tsvetkov's) professional work," Pronin said.
The brazen killing is the first major political assassination since President Vladimir Putin took office in May 2000. Such attacks were common in the early years after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The gunmen escaped by car, according to eyewitnesses quoted by Itar-Tass news agency, though city prosecutor Mikhail Avdyukov was quoted as saying police had a good description of the killer.
Tsvetkov is one of 89 governors in the Russian Federation, who enjoy huge powers in their fiefdoms though Putin has tried to clip their wings.
The Pacific territory of Magadan became notorious under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as the site of hard labor camps built by the prisoners themselves in the harshest circumstances.
An hour and a half after the shooting Tsvetkov was still sprawled on his back on the pavement. Police had cordoned off the area and forensic experts were investigating the crime scene.
MAGADAN REGION GOVERNOR KILLED IN MOSCOW'S HEART
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 18, 2002. /RIA NOVOSTI/--Valentin Tsvetkov, Governor of the Magadan region, was killed near the building of the Federation Council, or the upper parliamentary house, which also accommodates representative offices of the Magadan and other regions of Russia, in Novy Arbat street in the very heart of Moscow at about 9 a.m. A Makarov pistol and a cartridge case were found at the site.
Composite pictures of the suspects are being made at the moment, according to Valery Gribakin, in charge of the information section of Moscow's interior department. He also said law-enforcers identified two cars the criminals had apparently escaped in. Investigators believe the killing was connected to Valentin Tsvetkov's gubernatorial activities.
President Vladimir Putin spoke to Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov and Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov on the phone instructing them to take the investigation into the murder under special control.
MAGADAN GOVERNOR'S OFFICE DUTY PROBABLY CAUSED HIS ASSASSINATION
MOSCOW, October 18th, 2002 /from a RIA Novosti correspondent/--Investigators do not rule it out that it were the Magadan Governor's office duties that caused his assassination. This information was disclosed by Valery Gribakin, the head of the information section of the Moscow police department. Meanwhile, RIA Novosti's sources in law-enforcement bodies report that the assassination could also be caused by personal conflicts or industrial activities in the Magadan region. According to the sources, almost all assassination attempts against political and public figures were committed for the two aforesaid reasons.
The Governor of the Magadan region was killed on Friday about 9.00 a.m., Moscow time, in Novy Arbat street near the Federation Council building, which also seats the government of the Magadan region and of other Russian regions.
Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov will personally control the investigation into the assassination of Valentin Tsvetkov, the Russian Interior Ministry reported on Friday adding that many features show that "it was a contract murder."
By Balls? I hope it didn't take forever for the Govenor to bleed out!
Valentine Tsvetkov, was assassinated Friday by balls in the center of Moscow by two unknown
A deputy of Douma (Lower House), Vladimir Golovlev (45 years) had been assassinated by balls on August 21 in Moscow.
Note to Vlad Puty-Get these writers an ESL gift for Christmas!
LOL. My first thoughts, also!
Notice, though, that HAL's first post was found from a Russian-language article and passed through a software translator (Babelfish). Those programs spit out funny stuff like this sometimes.
So do human translators, sometimes hilariously so. In the translation of song lyrics, in which case attempts may be made to also match the scan or syllable counts, the results can sometimes be downright hilarious.
as with this quaint old Russian folk song, for instance....
-archy-/-
Nah, that would be Vesolye Rebyata's version of "Old Automobile."
I can't tell, that would be giving away a State Secret. But on a thread related to Russian internal news and a series of political assassination, such an understanding, or at least a passing interest might be inferred.
-archy-/-
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