For information on the above-mentioned subjects, please consult the attachments and the second paragraph of page 989, and the first two paragraphs of page 991, of Country Reports 1995, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Attachments

ITAR-TASS [Moscow, in English]. 20 March 1996. "Kidnappings on the Rise in Moscow." (NEXIS)

_____. 30 January 1996. "Internal Affairs; Justice Minister Chairs Crime Meeting, 60 Contract Killings in Moscow in 1995." (BBC Summary 1 Feb. 1996/NEXIS)

_____. 16 January 1996. "Other Reports; Crime Escalates in Russia as Contract Killings Reach 500 a Year." (BBC Summary 17 Jan. 1996/NEXIS)

_____. 14 November 1995. Larisa Kislinskaya. "Contract Assassins Arrested in Moscow." (NEXIS)

_____. 14 September 1995. Larisa Kislinskaya. "Mafia War Seems to Resume in Moscow." (NEXIS)

_____. 7 April 1995. Larissa Kislinskaya. "Moscow Police Arrest Group of Contract Killers." (NEXIS)

Izvestiya [Moscow, in Russian]. 21 September 1995. Olga Kryshtanovskaya. "Sociologist Surveys Russian Mafia, Official Links." (FBIS-SOV-95-195-S 10 Oct. 1995, pp. 36-41)

Kabardino-Balkarskaya Pravda [Nalchik, in Russian]. 27 February 1996. "Russia: Organized Crime in Northern Caucasus Detailed." (FBIS-SOV-96-057-S 22 Mar. 1996, pp. 90-91)

Liberation [Paris]. 23-24 November 1995. "Russie: lois sur le crime organisé," p. 10.

Moskovskiye Novosti [Moscow, in Russian]. 4-11 February 1996. Leonid Nikintinskiy. "Russia: Rising Professionalism of Killers Noted." (FBIS-SOV-96-044-S 5 Mar. 1996, pp. 43-46)

Nevskoye Vremya [St. Petersburg, in Russian]. 3 March 1995. "St. Petersburg's Mayor Comments on Mafia, Crime." (FBIS-SOV-95-045 8 Mar. 1995, pp. 36-37)

Nezavisimaya Gazeta [Moscow, in Russian]. 16 February 1996. Oleg Kutasov and Stanislav Romanov. "Russia: Mobs Divide Moscow, Mafia Groups Profiled." (FBIS-SOV-96-044-S 5 Mar. 1996, pp. 40-43)

Reuters. 28 February 1996. BC Cycle. "Businessman, Family of Five Shot Dead in Russia." (NEXIS)

_____. 24 August 1995. BC Cycle. "Moscow Police Raid Headquarters of Major Gang." (NEXIS)

Russian Public TV [Moscow, in Russian]. 15 November 1995. "Internal Affairs; Police Claim Moscow Organized Crime Divided on Ethnic Lines." (BBC Summary 20 Nov. 1995/NEXIS)

Segodnya [np]. Grigory Sanin. "Racketeers Promise to Shoot Russian National Bank Board of Directors One After Another." (Russian Press Digest 15 July 1995/NEXIS)

Territoriya [Magadan, in Russian]. 28 December 1995. Vladimir Grib. "Russia: Organized Crime, Corruption Detailed." (FBIS-SOV-96-062-S 29 Mar. 1996, pp. 88-90)

Transition: Events and Issues in the Former Soviet Union and East-Central and Southeastern Europe [Prague]. 22 September 1995. Vol. 1, No. 17. Maura Griffin Solovar. "Excerpts From Speeches, Editorials, and Other Notable Documents," pp. 61-62.

_____. Penny Morvant. n.d. "War on Organized Crime and Corruption," pp. 32-36.

Vecherniy Novosibirsk [Novosibirsk, in Russian]. 22 March 1995. Irina Timofeyeva. "Novosibirsk Oblast's Procurator on Listyev's Murder." (FBIS-SOV-95-061 30 Mar. 1995, pp. 30-31)

Vostochno-Sibirskaya Pravda [Irkutsk, in Russian]. 17 January 1995. Anatoliy Malyshev. "Police Official on Mafia Activity in Irkutsk." (FBIS-SOV-95-061 30 Mar. 1995, pp. 28-30)
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