OMRI ANALYTICAL BRIEF No. 456, 11 NOVEMBER 1996
Copyright (c) 1996, Open Media Research Institute
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Death in a Moscow Cemetery
by Penny Morvant
Thirteen people were killed and several others seriously injured in an explosion at the Kotlyakovskoe cemetery in Moscow on 10 November. The victims were Afghan veterans and their relatives gathered for a memorial service in honor of Mikhail Likhodei, who headed the Russian Fund for Invalids of the War in Afghanistan (RFIVA) before he was killed exactly two years before. Other members of the fund, which was granted lucrative foreign trade privileges at the beginning of 1994, have also been attacked in the past. The bloody history of the fund is a good illustration of the extent to which organized crime has become intertwined with business -- and even charitable -- activities in Russia, when large sums of money are involved.
The RFIVA, which was set up in 1991 to help soldiers wounded during the Afghan war, has been plagued by conflicts. According to Segodnya on 11 November, rival factions have fought for control of the fund and hence over the commercial activities in which it is involved. At the fund's second conference in August 1992, Valerii Radchikov, a paratroop colonel who lost both legs in Afghanistan, was elected RFIVA chairman. A year later he was ousted, accused of concentrating too heavily on commercial activities, and replaced by Likhodei. Radchikov, however, continued to operate in the name of the fund from his base in its Moscow branch. Likhodei turned to the Justice Ministry in an attempt to put a stop to Radchikov's activities, and in September 1993 a criminal case was launched against Radchikov. Later that month, an attempt was made on the lives of Likhodei and Sergei Trakhirov, his deputy.
In 1994, a new conflict arose when the RFIVA was granted tax breaks under a December 1993 presidential decree on state support for organizations assisting invalids. The most important benefit the decree gave the fund was exemptions on the payment of duties on goods imported into Russia. It is estimated that imported goods, mainly alcohol and tobacco, to the tune of $800 million were involved. In the struggle to profit from those new opportunities, Radchikov was quicker off the mark than Likhodei, managing to secure the right to trade in the name of the RFIVA. After several months, Likhodei regained control, but he had little opportunity to celebrate his victory. On 10 November 1994, he was killed when a bomb exploded in the elevator in his apartment block.
The legal battle between the rival factions over control of the fund continued in 1995. And on 29 October, the next bloody incident occurred. Radchikov was badly injured and his legal adviser killed in a shooting attack in Moscow. Police speculated that Radchikov was targeted because he knew too much about the fund's business dealings, although he himself no longer played a key role in its financial affairs.
Among the victims of the explosion at the Kotlyakovskoe cemetery on 10 November was the RFIVA's current chairman Trakhirov and several other leading members of the fund. The explosives, equivalent to about 2.5 to 3 kilograms of TNT, went off as Trakhirov was preparing to address the 150 or so mourners gathered near Likhodei's grave.
Although most of the tax breaks from which the fund benefited have been abolished, the "Afghan business" has remained profitable. Rumors abound concerning responsibility for the recent tragedy, but there can be little doubt that it is linked to the fund's commercial dealings. The chairman of the Russian Union of Veteran of Afghanistan, Frants Klintsevich, was quoted as saying that criminal scores were being settled within the fund and that a "third force" was setting Afghan veterans against each other in the hope of profiting from the disputes.
Another charitable fund that benefited from trade privileges worth millions of dollars, the National Sports Fund, has also been riven by internal conflicts, and its former head, Boris Fedorov, barely survived an assassination attempt this summer. Other charities concerned with invalids are also thought to have fallen under the control of criminal groups, interested in the money-making possibilities they offer. Wherever there is money, it appears, criminal groups will vie for influence, often leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.
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