VTB MANAGING DIRECTOR FOUND MURDERED NEAR MOSCOW

UNCLAS MOSCOW 005770 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RUS, EEB/IFD TREASURY FOR MEYER, TORGERSON NSC FOR WARLICK E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ECON RS SUBJECT: VTB MANAGING DIRECTOR FOUND MURDERED NEAR MOSCOW REF: (06) MOSCOW 11533 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (U) On December 6, officials from the Moscow Oblast division of the General Procuracy's Investigation Committee discovered the body of VTB Managing Director for Corporate Clients Oleg Zhukovsky. He was found at the bottom of a swimming pool near his home in the Odintsovo region of suburban Moscow. Zhukovsky's hands and feet were bound, and his head had been covered in plastic wrap. Officials found an apparent suicide note, in which Zhukovsky supposedly lamented that he was "tired of life." Investigators dismissed the letter as an attempted cover-up and announced that a formal investigation into Zhukovsky's murder had begun. End Summary. -------------- VTB Bank Manager Found Dead -------------- ¶2. (SBU) VTB Corporate Client Division Managing Director Oleg Zhukovsky was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool near his suburban Moscow home on December 6. Officials from the Moscow Oblast division of the Investigation Committee announced that Zhukovsky's hands and feet had been bound and that his head had been covered in plastic wrap. Investigators' initial conclusion was that drowning was the cause of death. They also revealed that they found what appeared to be a suicide note, the handwriting of which relatives identified as Zhukovsky's. The letter stated the victim was "tired of life" and pleaded that his family and colleagues "not accuse anyone" for his death. Investigators publicly concluded Zhukovsky was forced to write the note by those trying to cover-up his murder. They reported that the circumstances surrounding the body's discovery were sufficient to launch a criminal investigation. ¶3. (SBU) Zhukovsky, 55, had focused primarily on providing financial services to the forestry industry. One of his main projects during the last year was formulating a revitalized forestry development policy. According to Antanta Capital forestry analyst Anna Krylova, Zhukovsky worked closely with Federal Timber Agency Director Valery Roshchupkin on "A Strategic Vision and Long-Term Development Scenarios for the Russian Timber Industry Through 2015," which they presented during the InternatioQTimber Forum in St. Petersburg in October. Krylova also noted that the forestry sector of the economy was closely tied to organized crime. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Zhukovsky's death comes a little more than a year after another VTB executive, Aleksandr Plokhin, was killed in Moscow (reftel). The brutal way in which Zhukovsky was killed makes a link to organized crime a plausible theory. BURNS