As an official at the chief city police directorate told Gazeta.Ru, when the car was passing under the flyover, three gunmen travelling in a black BMW-525 opened fire at the vice-mayor’s Volvo.
According to preliminary reports, both the vice-mayor and his driver were unhurt in the attack. So far, the police have confirmed that Ordzhonikidze’s bodyguard Alexander Golikov was wounded. Golikov was sitting in the front seat, near the driver at the moment of the attack. He was shot in the shoulder and taken to the 1st City Hospital. A stray bullet also hit the 19-year-old driver of a Gazel minibus that was passing by at the moment of the attack. The young man was taken to the Sklifosovsky First Aid Research Institute.
The gunmen fled after the vice-mayor’s bodyguard Golikov opened fire at the BMW. When the police discovered the car soon afterwards not far from the place where the attack had taken place, it was seriously damaged - its boot was crushed, and its body was riddled with bullets. It is quite likely, that during the shooting the Volvo’s driver was trying to ram the BMW.
In an interview to Gazeta.Ru a police official noted that near the car policemen found the body of an unidentified man. Police suspect that the man belonged to the gang that attacked the vice-mayor’s car. It is assumed that after the shooting the offenders set their car on fire, left their wounded accomplice to die and fled in another car that was waiting for them somewhere in the vicinity.
So far, investigators have refrained from offering any versions of what happened. However, it is quite likely, that the latest attempt on the vice-mayor’s life is connected with his professional activity. He is in charge of investment and foreign economic activities, hotels and the casino business. The main projects which the vice-mayor has been overseeing recently are the construction of the business-centre Moscow-City and work on the construction of an F1 race track in Nagatino’s flood-lands.
Gazeta.Ru’s source in the Moscow government is convinced that the attack on Ordzhonikidze is connected with the distribution of construction contracts. The F1 project launched by the mayor’s office is one of the few opportunities for construction companies to stay afloat in view of the city government’s plans to considerably cut house building.
The first attempt on the vice-mayor’s life took place on December 19, 2000 when an unknown gunman armed with an assault-rifle opened fire at his car. The incident happened within 50-metres of the mayor’s office located in the heart of Moscow. As a result, Ordzhonikidze was seriously wounded and his driver was killed. The official was taken to the Sklifosovsky Institute, where he immediately underwent surgery and on January 22, 2001 he was discharged from hospital.
In spring 2000 Ordzhonikidze’s aid Vyacheslav Borulnik also survived a murder attempt. His car came under fire near hid house. Borulnik’s driver was wounded, but the official was not hurt.
20 ИЮНЯ 16:33
