SHOOTING OF SOCCER TEAM DIRECTOR: A CONTRACT KILLING?

The June 15 shooting of Larisa Nechaeva, commercial director of Russia’s top soccer club, Spartak, bears all the hallmarks of a gangland killing. Following the April killing of the head of Russia’s ice hockey federation, Nechaeva’s death is being seen as a further sign that organized crime is moving into Russian sports. Nechaeva, who was shot at a country house outside Moscow, was in charge of arranging commercial sponsorship deals for the team. Spartak’s sponsors include several oil and gas companies. (BBC World Service, June 16. See also item on organized crime below)

Yeltsin Approves Early Elections in Primorsky Krai.