Politician found cemented in barrel
The body of a Russian politician has been found cemented in a barrel, and a former government official has been accused of ordering the killing over an $80 million (€59 million) debt, officials say.
Mikhail Pakhomov, 37, went missing last week. He was a member of the local council in Lipetsk, a city 350 kilometres (215 miles) south of Moscow.
He was last seen last Tuesday when three unidentified men pushed him into a car outside a restaurant in Lipetsk and drove away.
Russia’s Investigative Committee says several suspects were detained, and that authorities found Pakhomov’s badly beaten body in a barrel of cement in a garage.
Russian television stations aired footage provided by police that showed a fragment of a barrel, pieces of concrete and officers carrying what appeared to be Pakhomov’s body on a stretcher and loading it into a vehicle.
The Investigative Committee said Yevgeny Kharitonov is being held on suspicion of ordering the killing of Pakhomov, allegedly over the debt. Kharitonov is a former deputy minister in the Moscow region’s provincial government.
