Most notorious assassination of 2003 solved

Several directors of Almaz-Antey air defense enterprises were killed over a short period of time

The Russian Office of the Prosecutor General has solved one of the most notorious crimes of 2003 – the assassination of acting general director of the military concern Almaz-Antey Igor Klimov. The assassin has been detained and arrested on the base of the court warrant,” Interfax quoted a message from the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Igor Klimov was shot dead on June 6th, 2003, when he was leaving his house in Moscow. The assassin was shooting from a gun with a silencer. Directors of two other enterprises incorporated in the air defense concern have been killed before. In February of 2002 director of the commercial firm Rusma, Ruben Narimanov, was shot in St.Petersburg. Mikhail Ivanov, the general director of another factory, was killed in July of the same year.

Investigators found, all assassinations were connected with one motive –the redistribution of the concern's property. A spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor General said, the investigation of the three crimes had been united in one criminal file. Arrested people's names have not been exposed for the interests of the investigation.

Igor Klimov used to work in foreign intelligence and in the presidential administration. After that, he headed the air defense concern Almaz-Antey. On June 6th, 2003 Klimov went out of his house situated not far from the building of the Russian Interior Affairs Ministry. Two unknown men wearing camouflage uniform ran up to him. One of the criminals took a gun with a silencer out of the plastic bag and shot Klimov in the chest. Igor Klimov remained standing and attempted to defend himself. He managed to take the gun away from the assassin. The other criminal was trying to snatch away Klimov's case. Igor Klimov's wife ran out of the house during the fight and the criminals escaped. Klimov died over the wound.

The director of another company of the air defense concern, Ratep, was killed in the Moscow region the same day. First deputy director of the St.Petersburg-based enterprise State Obukhovsky Factory, which was also a member of the Almaz-Antey concern, was found hanged on January 12th.

Concern Almaz-Antey was established according to Putin's decree in April of 2003. It was a joint-stock company with the perspective of the foreign economic activity. It incorporates more than 40 Russian state and joint stock enterprises. The companies are specialized in the development and production of air defense systems for all kinds of Armed Forces. One of the central enterprises of the concern, the company Almaz, which created the renowned C-300 complex, has recently completed the works on the anti-aircraft emplacement Triumph. The emplacement is currently undergoing state tests. The new weapon took part in military exercises in May of the current year, when it destroyed a target flying 20 kilometers high and 200 kilometers far. According to experts’ estimates, Triumph's technical and combatant capacities surpass all other similar air defense systems in the world.

On the photo: Igor Klimov