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Putin critic murdered in moscow
Russian MP Sergei Yushenkov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, has been murdered in Moscow. His colleagues are calling his death an assassination.
No!
Mr Yushenkov, a leader of the Liberal Russia party, was shot three times in the back near his home.
His home is near his back? Oh... I get it
Police confirm he died later of his wounds and a pistol with a silencer was found near the scene.
In Moscow, this is "death by natural causes"
A supporter of human rights causes and an opponent of the war in Chechnya.
O for 2 huh?
Mr Yushenkov, 52, is the second member of his party to be murdered this year. "I have no doubt at all that this was a political murder," said Gennady Seleznyov, the speaker of the State Duma. In August, party member Vladimir Golovlyov was shot in the head, and Mr Yushenkov said at the time that he thought that killing was politically motivated.
duh
The Liberal Russia party was founded last year with the financial backing of Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled tycoon and President Putin opponent who was elected one of its co-chairmen along with Yushenkov. Several months later, however, Liberal Russia broke ties with Berezovsky because of his political overtures to the Communists. Mr Yushenkov, and a member of the Duma Security Committee, was a critic of Mr Putin and the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
Just for those who see Putin and his cronies as "new democrats" in Russia? A dose of reality. It's a cold hard world out there

But let me add that there are lots of other reasons than making faces at Putin for him to have been bumped off. My own suspicions would actually gravitate toward Berezovsky before they'd land on Vlad. Just having been in the intel biz doesn't necessarily mean you have people bumped off casually. On the other hand, just being a mobster kinda sorta hints that you might... And those opinions aren't even taking into consideration any other players who didn't make it into the story.

Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=13191