VZCZCXYZ0015
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMO #5770 3441433
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101433Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5775
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS MOSCOW 005770 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/RUS, EEB/IFD 
TREASURY FOR MEYER, TORGERSON 
NSC FOR WARLICK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN ECON RS
SUBJECT: VTB MANAGING DIRECTOR FOUND MURDERED NEAR MOSCOW 
 
REF: (06) MOSCOW 11533 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (U) On December 6, officials from the Moscow Oblast 
division of the General Procuracy's Investigation Committee 
discovered the body of VTB Managing Director for Corporate 
Clients Oleg Zhukovsky.  He was found at the bottom of a 
swimming pool near his home in the Odintsovo region of 
suburban Moscow.  Zhukovsky's hands and feet were bound, and 
his head had been covered in plastic wrap.  Officials found 
an apparent suicide note, in which Zhukovsky supposedly 
lamented that he was "tired of life."  Investigators 
dismissed the letter as an attempted cover-up and announced 
that a formal investigation into Zhukovsky's murder had 
begun.  End Summary. 
 
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VTB Bank Manager Found Dead 
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¶2.  (SBU) VTB Corporate Client Division Managing Director 
Oleg Zhukovsky was found dead at the bottom of a swimming 
pool near his suburban Moscow home on December 6.  Officials 
from the Moscow Oblast division of the Investigation 
Committee announced that Zhukovsky's hands and feet had been 
bound and that his head had been covered in plastic wrap. 
Investigators' initial conclusion was that drowning was the 
cause of death.  They also revealed that they found what 
appeared to be a suicide note, the handwriting of which 
relatives identified as Zhukovsky's.  The letter stated the 
victim was "tired of life" and pleaded that his family and 
colleagues "not accuse anyone" for his death.  Investigators 
publicly concluded Zhukovsky was forced to write the note by 
those trying to cover-up his murder.  They reported that the 
circumstances surrounding the body's discovery were 
sufficient to launch a criminal investigation. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Zhukovsky, 55, had focused primarily on providing 
financial services to the forestry industry.  One of his main 
projects during the last year was formulating a revitalized 
forestry development policy.  According to Antanta Capital 
forestry analyst Anna Krylova, Zhukovsky worked closely with 
Federal Timber Agency Director Valery Roshchupkin on "A 
Strategic Vision and Long-Term Development Scenarios for the 
Russian Timber Industry Through 2015," which they presented 
during the InternatioQTimber Forum in St. Petersburg in 
October.  Krylova also noted that the forestry sector of the 
economy was closely tied to organized crime. 
 
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Comment 
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¶4.  (SBU) Zhukovsky's death comes a little more than a year 
after another VTB executive, Aleksandr Plokhin, was killed in 
Moscow (reftel).  The brutal way in which Zhukovsky was 
killed makes a link to organized crime a plausible theory. 
BURNS