Originally published on September 10, 2013
A senior Russian diplomat in Georgia's Moscow-backed breakaway Abkhazia region was shot dead on Monday by an unidentified gunman, Russian news agencies reported.
The first secretary of the Russian embassy in Abkhazia, Dmitry Vishernev, was shot at close range as he drove out of a garage at his temporary home in the Black Sea region's main city, Sukhumi, Interfax reported.
There was no immediate word on a possible motive, and the Russia Foreign Ministry declined comment, Reuters news agency reported.
However local news agencies reported the assassination had been an act of terrorism.
The diplomat was shot in the head at close range while reversing his car out of his garage, according to The Moscow Times. His wife was injured and hospitalised.
Abkhazia, a lush coastal region that has a reputation for crime and corruption, broke from Georgian government control in a war that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another rebel province, South Ossetia, as independent nations after fighting a five-day war with Georgia in 2008, angering NATO and the United States, and Moscow maintains troops in both regions.
Only a few other countries consider them independent states.
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