SUSPECT IN 1998 MURDER OF DUMA DEPUTY STAROVOITOVA ARRESTED

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