RUSSIA: A liberal Russian politician and critic of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead outside his Moscow flat last night, in what police said appeared to be the latest contract killing to rock a party founded by exiled tycoon Mr Boris Berezovsky. Daniel McLaughlin reports from Moscow
Eyewitnesses said Mr Sergei Yushenkov was shot three times in the back at about 5.30 p.m., as he got out of his Audi car and headed for his front door.
Russian television reporters said a Makarov pistol with a silencer was found near the body, which lay on the pavement for hours as senior policemen studied the crime scene.
"This is the latest political killing. Sergei was a brilliant political figure," said Mr Boris Zolotukhin, a prominent member of Mr Yushenkov's Liberal Russia party. "And it's hardly the first murder of a liberal leader, and none of the other killers has been caught - political murders are happening here, and it's a tragedy of our time."
Another leader of Liberal Russia, Mr Vladimir Golovlyov, was shot dead last summer in an attack that Mr Yushenkov said was probably politically motivated. Russian TVS television said 10 parliamentary deputies had been murdered since 1994, along with several regional governors.
Mr Viktor Pokhmelkin, another leader of Liberal Russia, said the murder of Mr Yushenkov (52) was intended to silence other outspoken politicians.
"This was clearly political - Sergei was totally clean and had nothing to do with business," Mr Pokhmelkin said. "Whoever ordered this murder wanted to scare us and force us to our knees, but Sergei Yushenkov didn't live so that these miserable murderers could achieve that." Mr Putin told Russia's Prosecutor General to take "special control" of the investigation into Mr Yushenkov's murder, and Interior Minister Mr Boris Gryzlov said he would personally oversee the case.
Mr Yushenkov, a human rights campaigner who made powerful enemies by staunchly opposing the two wars that have devastated Chechnya since 1994, left the established Union of Right Forces party to join Mr Berezovsky's fledgling Liberal Russia group in 2001.
Mr Berezovsky, a businessman who enjoyed huge political power under President Boris Yeltsin, pledged $100 million to the party that he hoped to use a means to criticise Mr Yeltsin's successor, Mr Putin.
After taking power, Mr Putin gradually cranked up the legal pressure on the controversial Mr Berezovsky until he fled to London, where he continues to lambast the Kremlin while fighting a Russian extradition request.
Mr Yushenkov and fellow party members expelled Mr Berezovsky from Liberal Russia last October, after the tycoon suggested a possible alliance with the Communist Party. Mr Berezovsky said his expulsion was intended to smooth the way for Liberal Russia's registration with the Justice Ministry.
Mr Yushenkov's last public appearance was to tell reporters yesterday that Liberal Russia had completed the registration process and would run in December's parliamentary elections, without Mr Berezovsky.
Mr Berezovsky, who accuses Mr Putin of suppressing free media and boosting the power of the security services that he used to work for, said last night that the killing was meant to terrify the Russian people into quiescence.