Political assassination suspect held in Latvia

RIGA - A former Russian paramilitary policeman apprehended in
connection with a murder during Latvia's drive for independence may
also be linked to the infamous 1998 assassination of an outspoken
Russian politician in St. Petersburg, according to police here.

Police say evidence may connect Konstatin Nikulin, a Russian national
and a former member of the OMON troops that occupied Latvia in 1991,
to the killing of Galina Starovoitova, a liberal member of the
Russian Duma who was gunned down outside her home in November 1998.

During the investigation into the OMON case in early 1998, police
here say Nikulin fled to Russia and may have been part of an
organized crime ring suspected in a number of contract killings in
St. Petersburg.

"Before he came back to Latvia he was connected to a Russian group we
think may have given the orders to kill her (Starovoitova)," said
Krists Leiskalns, a police spokesman in Latvia.

Police here arrested Nikulin at a friend's house last October and
found a rare type of 9 mm pistol on him they believe might be related
to the St. Petersburg shooting.

Police sent ballistics samples to Russia in October.

"We have not heard back from them yet," said Leiskalns.

Starovoitova, a 52-year-old pro-reform supporter and close ally with
former President Boris Yeltsin during the early period of Soviet
reform, was gunned down outside her home a month before the 1998
local election in St. Petersburg.

Police say assassins used a rifle and pistol in the shooting, which
also injured Starovoitova's assistant.

If he is connected with the shooting, police say Nikulin will likely
be extradited to Russia.