PAY UP OR ELSE.

Oleg Shevtsov, the director of the Russian Tolyatti equipment plant and a member of the board of directors of the giant AvtoVAZ auto factory, was gunned down on October 10. Police are investigating reports that he was being threatened by persons trying to force the equipment plant to pay its debts to the city’s water supply company. In what appears to be a coincidence, late last week units of the Samara oblast OMON (riot police) started guarding the delivery yard at the AvtoVAZ plant to cut down on pestering by criminal elements working for car dealers. (Kommersant-daily, October 14)

Kremlin Comments on European-Russian Summits.