St. Petersburg, 26 August 1997 (RFE/RL/) - Investigators say that St. Petersburg Vice Governor Mikhail Manevich -- assassinated last week on Nevsky Prospect, the city's main boulevard -- received death threats two years ago and briefly was under federal protection in 1995.
A spokesman for the Federal Security Service, Valery Kuznetsov, says that Manevich received threats from criminal groups in 1995 and was placed under the protection of law enforcement officers. An official in the city prosecutor's office says some of those threats may have come from people displeased with ManevichUs planned rent reforms. Investigators reportedly consider the rent reforms among likely motives for the murder.
Manevich's deputy, German Gref, was named yesterday as temporary successor. Gref was chairman of the Property Committee for the suburb of Petrodvorets before moving on to become head of the St. Petersburg Property Committee's real estate department in 1994.