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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Murder of Starovoitova - Rubicon Of Russian Democracy

24 November, 1998 - 00:00

Today in St. Petersburg one of the founders of Russia's democratic
movement, 52 year old Galina Starovoitova will be buried. She was shot
down on Friday night in the entrance to her own apartment complex. More
and more Russians are agreeing with State Duma Deputy Liudmila Narusova,
"We shall bury not Starovoitova, we shall bury democracy."

Yesterday Russian President Boris Yeltsin was again hospitalized after
a diagnosis of pneumonia, and the struggle for his political legacy is
entering its decisive phase. The assassination of Starovoitova was a unique
signal to all interested parties what the rules of the game are in the
Russian political struggle. Starovoitova, those close to her confirm, had
no direct connections with any commercial structures and lobbied no special
interests. She was convinced that this in itself was her security. She
was wrong.

Two things make Starovoitova's figure a symbol and her murder a warning
to one and all who want to keep contract killers out of the political game.

First, this is the first time a woman politician has been killed in
Russia. Hence, the sentimental talk about leaving women and children alone
has finally been cast aside. Secondly, "the revolution is consuming its
own children," exactly as it did in eighteenth century France. Starovoitova
was one of the founders of the Russian democratic movement and an adviser
to Boris Yeltsin. However, they parted company some time ago when it became
clear that the society Yeltsin and his team were building in Russia had
very little in common with democratic ideals as Starovoitova understood
them. Their paths diverged finally over the Chechen issue: Starovoitova
was categorically opposed to the war.

Who ordered Galina Starovoitova murdered? Unified Energy Systems of
Russia CEO Anatoly Chubais states: "Who was bothered by Galina Starovoitova?
The answer is simple: the Communists and bandits. She was in the way of
these two categories of people." Chubais believes "there are deep internal
connections between the misanthropic statements of General Albert Makashov
and the murder of Galina Starovoitova. The connection is this: first the
warning and then the killing."

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, however, compares
the Starovoitova assassination to that of Sergei Kirov in 1934. We recall
that most historians considered the latter a colossal provocation, which
allowed those then in power to begin the massive physical annihilation
of their opponents.

Today in Russia nobody takes seriously Yeltsin's chances of retaining
real power. A strange turn of events was that a few days before Starovoitova's
death information was made public about a contract being put out on the
life of CIS Executive Secretary and financial magnate Boris Berezovsky.
Modern history - and not only in Russia and Ukraine - of cases where some
people are threatened and others wind up being killed.

Now that more and more observers are seeing Primakov as Yeltsin's most
probable successor, could the murder have been meant as a warning to the
Russian Premier?

Practically all prominent Russian politicians and all political forces
are demanding law enforcement immediately find and bring to justice Starovoitova's
murder. And this leads us to the question of whether this really does signal
the beginning of a new era in Russia's political life, an era of arbitrary
criminal rule. Most members of the Russian political Establishment are
convinced that the killer will not be found. And in such a case Russia
will have entered that new era. This could also be true of Ukraine. Suffice
it to recall that we have far too many who want to adopt the best Russian
"technologies." Especially in politics.

Commentary from the Crime Desk, The Day

Starovoitova's murder was a classic contract killing with the full assortment
of the classic elements of the genre. The direct "executors" were clearly
not two. In addition to the two killers who went into the entrance where
the Russian State Duma member's apartment was located, only a few moments
before the murder in order to avoid being seen, there had to be a scout
or scouts with a walkie-talkie to inform the assassins of how close the
victim was. Still another scout would have to have met the Deputy at the
St. Petersburg airport to make sure she was coming. Still another accomplice
would have had to find out that Starovoitova was leaving Moscow.

For the first time in Russian crime, the killers used an expensive and
rare foreign-made weapon, the Agram 2000 machine gun, and a Beretta automatic
pistol. Let us recall that Ukrainian machine guns were used two years ago
in the assassination of People's Deputy Yevhen Shcherban in the Donetsk
airport. The weapon's make was announced in a news conference by Ukrainian
Internal Affairs Minister Yuri Kravchenko.

The weapons used by the criminals and left at the crime scene will probably
provide no leads, for it is unlikely they were used earlier.

 

 

 

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