Former KGB spy shot dead in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian businessman who had been convicted in Israel of being a KGB spy was shot dead in Moscow on Monday, police said.

Shabattai Kalmanovich, 60, was gunned down near his apartment in central Moscow after unidentified gunmen opened fire on his Mercedes from a passing car, Moscow city police said. His driver was wounded, but tried to pursue the car for several blocks, police said.

The killing appeared to have been “carefully planned,” the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted an unidentified police official as saying. But there was no immediate information about who could have carried out the killing and what may have motivated it.

Born in Soviet Lithuania in 1949, Kalmanovich and his family emigrated to Israel in 1971. He reportedly agreed to spy for KGB in return for emigration permit.

In Israel, Kalmanovich eventually became a government adviser on the resettlement of Soviet Jews. He also worked as Israel’s representative in Sierra Leone.

An Israeli court in 1988 convicted Kalmanovich of espionage and sentenced him to seven years in jail. He was released after serving five years and relocated to Sierra Leone, where he made a fortune in the diamonds trade.

Since 1994, Kalmanovich worked in Moscow as director general of the large Tishinsky shopping center. He also sponsored three basketball clubs, and was named chief executive of Spartak’s women’s basketball team in 2008.