Will Kurochkin killing be solved?

The investigation into the killing of Russian 'businessman' Maksym Kurochkin is to be led by deputy Prosecutor-General Vitaliy Shchotkin.

Shchotkin is a 'dyed-in-the-wool' Donetskiite who from the late '80's until 1996 was one of the region's top investigators and prosecutors. He was then moved to Kyiv, where again he worked as one of 'top bananas' in the Proscutor-General's office. His career coincided with the most lawless years in the Donbas when virtually none of the dozens of organized crime killings and business feuds were solved by law enforcement agencies, and later, the dreadful Kuchma era.

He was involved in 'muddying the waters' in the unsolved 'Georgiy Gongadze murder investigation, and other cases.

PM Yanukovych considers Kurochkin's murder by a sniper's bullet in the yard of a Kyiv court-house yesterday to be: "most likely a business vendetta" [razbor] with no political motive.

Shchotkin's track record indicates he is precisely the man the authorities require to tackle the Kurochkin case...particularly as it seems there has been some 'previous' between the Russian 'Luzhnikovtsi' [linked to Kurochkin], and 'Donetski'.

On Saturday 31st March Yuriy Lutsenko's 'People's self-defence' movement are staging a mass meeting at Independence Square - Maidan. Apart from Lutsenko, Yuliya Tymoshenko and Vyacheslav Kyrylenko from NSNU are to appear.

This may be the last chance for the remnants of the OR to show 'Regiony' what degree of support that they can muster at the time when opposition VR deputies continue to drift to the Coalition of National Unity in parliament. 'Vlasti' will do all it can to sabotage the meeting and cause it to flop.