Sergei Snegov: having fired at Moscow’s deputy mayor, killers left the site by foot

A bold crime has been committed in Moscow. In the city centre, near the Tverskaya Street, the automobile of the Moscow government’s vice-premier, Iosif Ordzhonokidze, was fired at by unidentified gunmen. The driver died immediately while the vice-premier was wounded in the thigh. As Yuri Furman, the Moscow Internal Affairs Unit spokesman, has told our correspondent by telephone, an investigative team is currently working at the site of the crime. It looks like all the bullet fired at the vice-premier’s car got stuck in the car’s frame. Experts have collected the cartridge-cases. A bag believed to belong to the assailants have been also found there. The exact number of the attackers is still unknown, but, presumably, they were one or two. Undoubtedly, they knew the vice-premier’s route and had waited for his car. Having fired, the assailants, wearing black masks, left the scene by foot, witnesses say. The capital city’s law-enforcement bodies say it is too early to put forward any versions of what has happened. However, the “economic” version is already being given priority. Mr. Ordzhonokidze is in charge of Moscow’s international economic ties, He also deals with the organisation and use of hard currency in the city, measures for regulating currency expenditure and attracting foreign investment. Mr. Ordzhonikidze is also involved in an agreement to build Russia's first top-class international motorsport Formula-1 circuit at a cost of around $100 million, of which Pravda.ru has already reported.