Banking is still a wild business in Russia. Last month, Alexander Slesarev, chairman of Sodbiznesbank, was driving his Mercedes down the Moscow-Don highway when assailants drew level with the speeding car and riddled it with Kalashnikov gunfire. Mr Slesarev, his wife and elder daughter were killed, although his younger daughter survived.
The murder is almost certainly a revenge killing. Sodbiznesbank was shut down by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) last May, sparking a mini-banking crisis that nearly brought Russia’s rocky financial edifice down for a second time.
