Wife of Putin's 'assassination plotter' killed in shooting

The wife of a Chechen man accused by Russian authorities of plotting to kill President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in an ambush here that also wounded her husband, officials said.

Amina Okuyeva and Adam Osmayev were in a car when an assailant opened fire from bushes on a railway crossing near the Ukrainian capital on Monday, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said.

Okuyeva, 34, died in the shooting and Osmayev was injured "but will live", Herashchenko was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The incident is the second attempt on Osmayev's life this year. He was attacked by a gunman in June, who was in turn shot and wounded by Okuyeva.

Interior Ministry spokesman Yaroslav Trakalo said police would open an investigation into a "premeditated murder".

In 2012, Osmayev was arrested and charged over an alleged plot to assassinate Putin. His extradition to Russia was halted by the European Court of Human Rights, but he was jailed in Ukraine for two years for illegal possession of explosives.

A second suspect in the case was handed over to Russian authorities in 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Osmayev and Okuyeva are well-known figures in Ukraine, after fighting as volunteers for Ukraine's military against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.

No-one has so far claimed responsibility for Monday's attack. It comes less than a week after Ukrainian lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk was injured in a vehicle bombing in Ukraine's capital.

--IANS

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