New suspect detained in killing of top Russian Central Bank official

A new suspect in the killing of a senior Central Bank official has been detained by police, Russian news agencies reported Friday, citing the suspect's lawyer.

Photo: New suspect detained in killing of top Russian Central Bank official

The reports quoted lawyer Yevgeny Martynov as saying his client Ilana Askerova was detained on Wednesday as a suspect in the September killing of Andrei Kozlov, the Central Bank's first deputy chairman.

Askerova "has connections to finance but is not officially the employee of any banking structure," Martynov was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

On Thursday, police detained a man suspected of ordering the killing of Kozlov, which was widely seen as connected to his efforts to clean up the Russian banking industry. A lawyer later identified that suspect as Alexei Frenkel, chief executive of VIP Bank, which was one of many financial institutions closed down over the past three years by the Central Bank at Kozlov's initiative, reports AP.

Kozlov was shot point-blank on Sept. 13 as he left a soccer game among bank employees in Moscow.