Moscow to help investigating Magadan governor assassination

A group of Russian federal governors have flown off today to the Magadan region in the north of Siberia to probe into the assassination of Magadan governor Valentin Tsvetkov who was shot dead on the head in the centre of Moscow Friday. It is for the first time in the recent period that a civil servant of such a high rank has been killed in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has referred to this murder as "a crime against the state" and entrusted Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov with supervising this case personally. The minister believes the crime is rooted deeply in the Magadan region itself, being one of Russia's richest natural reserves treasuries.

In the opinion of Moscow, the crime is economically motivated, with a direct involvement of several conflicting private companies in the region.

Moscow and Magadan have set up an operations investigating centre.