Wild east - and west..

It is often assumed that it is only in eastern Ukraine where gangsters and mafias reside and where businessmen are murdered in criminal vendettas, but this is not entirely true. Such terrible events also occur elsewhere in Ukraine.

There has been a spate of assassinations of prominent businessmen in Lviv this year - the latest taking place yesterday, when Bohdan Datsko [see photo] was shot dead on his way to work in his Mercedes.

Datsko was the owner and general director of a large company that manufactures Christmas decorations, a big player in the European market. A bar owned by Datsko's wife had been torched last winter.

Last month, on 26th October, an attempt was made on the life of Roman Fedyshyn, owner of the Shuvar market in Lviv. He survived, but an innocent 14 year old schoolgirl was killed when Fedyshyn's car was blown up.

On 30th December 2005 the chairman of the Lviv city council transport and communication administration died as a result of burns received when his car was set alight by unkown assailants.

On 29th September 2005 the head of the Lviv-based Ekolan corporation was killed by a burst of automatic fire from a 'Kalash'.

Six other prominent businessmen have also been murdered in Lviv since the turn of the millenium. None of these crimes have been solved.