General of the Russian Federal Security Bureau and his wife assassinated in Moscow

A masked criminal assassinated the general and his wife, but left their 4-year-old daughter alive

The assassination of Anatoli Trofimov, the former chairman of the Russian Federal Security Bureau for Moscow and the Moscow region, was conducted because of political reasons. The statement was released from Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB officer, who had been granted political shelter in Great Britain.

”I do not believe that General Trofimov has been killed because of his commercial activities. No Russian businessman will venture to kill a FSB general in today's Russia,” Litvinenko said.

The Moscow department of the Internal Affairs administration believes, however, that Anatoli Trofimov's assassination is most likely connected with the general's commercial activity, RIA Novosti reports. Litvinenko believes that such an assumption is absolutely wrong. “Trofimov was against the war in Chechnya, although he never announced it publicly. In addition, he was against Putin's appointment on the position of the FSB director,” the former FSB officer said in an interview with the Echo of Moscow radio station.

A spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor General in Moscow said that the investigation had several versions of the crime pending. They include the victim's professional activity in Russian special services and his commercial activity on the position of a top manager in a large company.

The assassination took place yesterday, on April 10th at about 7:40 p.m. in Moscow. The 65-year-old retired general was parking his black Jeep Cherokee vehicle near his house. His 28-year-old wife Tatiana and their 4-year-old daughter Tanya were also in the vehicle. A masked assassin ran up to the family as they were approaching the house and fired his gun several times. The general died instantly from the gunshot wound in the head and the chest. The criminal shot the general's wife in the head as well, but the woman stayed alive. The young woman died at a Moscow hospital on Monday morning. The assassin did not shoot at the child, the Kommersant newspaper wrote. Investigators do not know yet, what kind of business the killed general was running. However, when Anatoli Trofimov was fired from the special services, he was accused of having links with criminals and businessmen.

The general was fired because of the so-called “Xerox box case.” Several members of Boris Yeltsin's pre-election headquarters were detained in the summer of 1996 in the House of the Russian government. Police officers withdrew a box filled with $500,000 from the detainees. Then FSB director, Mikhail Barsukov, appointed Anatoli Trofimov the chief officer in the investigation of the case. Mr. Trofimov was fired from the special services as a result.

Investigators say that Anatoli Trofimov was in charge of several security guard firms, which retired FSB officers established. The market of security guard services is a very risky business in Moscow and the Moscow region, though.