Vadim Naidenov, mayor of the city of Troitsk in Moscow Oblast, was gunned down at his home by two assailants on 15 May, Russian news agencies reported.

Interior Ministry sources immediately linked the killing to Naidenov's activities as mayor, particularly his tough stance against drug traffickers, according to RTR.

Naidenov is the third local official to be slain in the Moskovskya Oblast in the last 13 months following the deaths of Ozerskii Raion administration head Petr Zabrodin and the deputy head of the Podolskii Raion, Vladislav Sashchkhin, RTR reported.

(RFE/RL 16.v.03)