Russian General Vitaly Gamov dies

Russian General Vitaly Gamov died in a Sapporo hospital (Japan) today, the local prefecture department reported.

ITAR-TASS reported that at, approximately at 2:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. Moscow time), Gamov’s heart stopped and normal breathing ceased. Nevertheless, doctors managed to bring the general back to life with the help of direct lung ventilation. However, the general died after several hours.

The transportation of General Gamov’s body to Sakhalin is being negotiated now. Burial is likely to take place in the city of Yuzhno – Sakhalinsk, but his family may still change their intention.

Unidentified criminals attacked the apartment of Russian Coast Guard Vitaly Gamov in Yuzhno, Sakhalinsk with a molotov cocktail on May 21. The general and his wife Larissa received grave burns. Luckily, their 14-year-old son Ivan was not wounded.

Vitaly and Larissa Gamov were transported to a Sapporo hospital on Hokkaido. Doctors say that Larissa Gamov’s condition is stable; she has already undergone her first skin grafting. Hopefully, the next operation will be a success as well.

The general’s colleagues are sure the attack was connected to his work. Being a Coast Guard general, Vitaly Gamov created an effective system for chasing poachers. The illegal catching of fish causes damages estimated at tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to the state. This is why the activity of General Gamov in the waters off Russia's eastern shore was disagreeable for the poachers and the management of fishing companies that sometimes also resort to poaching.

The investigation reported that the attack at General Gamov’s apartment was performed by three drug addicts recruited by yet unidentified organizers of the crime for $300. It is really very important that security measures are to be tightened to protect the lives of employees at organizations like the Coast Guard, for example. Otherwise, criminals and hooligans will further demonstrate their impunity.

Vitaly Gamov was one of the youngest generals with the Federal Frontier Service. He was given the rank of general at the age of 39, half a year before his appointment to the top post at the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk territorial department.

Vitaly Gamov was born in Alma – Ata, Kazakhstan. He and his wife Larissa knew each other from their childhood; they were schoolmates. After graduating from the Military Academy in 1994, Vitaly Gamov went to serve in the Far East, first in Kamchatka and then in the Kuril Islands.

Colleagues of the general promised a crackdown on crime. According to some sources, those who committed the crime must have been already liquidated as well. The investigation is sure that the organizers of the crime will be punished. Let us hope that they will.

The only thing left for us to do is to pay tribute to the general who was devoted to his service until his very last day.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

In the photo from Komsomolskaya Pravda archives: General Vitaly Gamov

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/05/28/41838.html