Russian bank manager is shot dead

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A Russian bank manager has been gunned down at his home in Moscow in an apparent contract killing.

Alexander Plokhin was shot in the head as he came out of the lift in his apartment building late on Tuesday.

He was the manager of the southern Moscow branch of the state-owned Vneshtorgbank.

His murder follows the high-profile killing of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and the assassination of a Russian central banker.

Moscow's prosecutor's office said the attack on Mr Plokhin had the tell-tale signs of a contract killing.

He worked recently as director-general of the external office of Vneshtorgbank 24, Russian TV reports.

It follows the death last month of the first deputy chairman of Russia's central bank, Andrei Kozlov, who was leading a fight against money laundering.

He was shot by two unidentified gunmen in Moscow.

Murder rate

Mr Plokhin's death also comes the day after the funeral of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead on Saturday.

The journalist was a consistent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of the most outspoken opponents of the conduct of the war in Chechnya.

Contract killings were common amid the general lawlessness that prevailed in Russia in the early 1990s, says the BBC's Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke.

But they seemed to taper off when Mr Putin came to power, promising a crackdown on crime.

However, Russia's murder rate remains among the highest in the world, and the clear-up rates for contract killings especially low, at between 10% and 20%.