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Viewing cable 09STPETERSBURG79, SUSPECT IN 1998 MURDER OF DUMA DEPUTY STAROVOITOVA ARRESTED

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09STPETERSBURG79 2009-06-25 10:40 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate St Petersburg
R 251040Z JUN 09
FM AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2789
INFO AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 
AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 
AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 
AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 
AMEMBASSY KYIV 
AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
UNCLAS ST PETERSBURG 000079 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: RS PHUM
SUBJECT: SUSPECT IN 1998 MURDER OF DUMA DEPUTY STAROVOITOVA ARRESTED 
AND CHARGED 
 
1. (SBU) Police arrested former Liberal Democratic Party of 
Russia (LDPR) Duma Deputy Mikhail Glushchenko in St. Petersburg 
on June 16 as he attempted to renew his passport.  On June 23 he 
was officially charged with extortion in a 2004 case and with 
the triple murder of Russian citizens in Cyprus in 2004.  One of 
these three victims was Vyacheslav Shevchenko, a St. Petersburg 
businessman and former fellow LDPR member, who had earlier been 
named in connection with former Duma Deputy Galina 
Starovoitova's murder.  Both Cypriot and Ukrainian police have 
expressed interest in interrogating Glushchenko in connection 
with a number of investigations. 
 
2. (SBU) Olga Starovoitova, sister of the slain politician, 
stated that she does not believe Glushchenko himself ordered the 
murder, but she hopes that his arrest will help move the 
long-stalled investigation forward.  Ruslan Linkov, 
Starovoitova's assistant who survived the attack which killed 
his boss, said that Glushchenko should pay for those crimes he 
committed, although he believes that Glushchenko is merely a 
co-conspirator in the plot to kill Starovoitova, rather than 
being the prime mover. 
 
3. (SBU) Witnesses at Starovoitova's 2005 murder trial claimed 
that Glushchenko's office served as a meeting place for those 
involved in Starovoitova's murder, in addition to serving as a 
storage place for the weapons.  Shevchenko, who also served as 
an LDPR State Duma Deputy until 1999, allegedly wrote a note 
before his death in which he accused Glushchenko of a number of 
other contract murders.  Both men's names have long been 
associated with the so-called "Tambov Gang," a prominent 
criminal syndicate in Russia.  When both LDPR delegates lost 
their seats to the State Duma in 1999, thereby also losing their 
immunity from prosecution, both chose to leave Russia. 
 
4. (SBU) Background.  Galina Starovoitova was a prominent 
Russian democratic politician, who began her political career in 
1989 when she was elected as a representative to the Congress of 
People's Deputies from Armenia  She was a member of Andrew 
Sakharov's reformist faction.  In 1990, she was reelected as a 
deputy from Leningrad, her home town, served as spokesman for 
Yeltsin in his presidential campaign, and later became his 
advisor on interethnic issues.  Starovoitova was strongly 
opposed to the influence of the security services in Russia as 
well as a sharp opponent of the Communist and Nationalist 
majority in the Duma.  In April 1998 she became the leader of 
Democratic Russia.   On November 20, 1998, she was gunned down 
in the entryway of her apartment building.  Her aide, Ruslan 
Linkov, was wounded in the attack but survived.  In 2005, two 
individuals were convicted of Starovoitova's murder, but others 
who contracted the murderers have never been identified and the 
case remains open.  Starovoitova remains an important symbol in 
democratic circles in St. Petersburg given the strong belief 
that all involved in her murder have not yet been brought to 
justice. 
 
GWALTNEY