The Moscow Times.

     The Deputy Mayor, Iosif Ordzhonikidze, was seriously wounded on Tuesday morning as two masked gunmen opened fire with armour piercing bullets; his driver died at the scene.

Dept Mayor Shot

  The Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov was quick to blame the criminal underworld for the attempted murder of Ordzhonikidze, who oversees lucrative sectors of the city's economy including, hotels, casinos and shopping centers.
  Several city officials have been attacked in recent years. Ordzhonikidze, 52, a deputy prime minister, remained in a grave condition after being hit by three bullets, one lodging in his abdomen.

  He was driving down Leontyevsky Pereulok at about 9 a.m. when his Nissan sedan came under fire from a Kalashnikov automatic rifle equipped with a silencer, a Moscow police officer said. Investigators found 25 spent cartridges at the scene and one abandoned rifle, still with a small grenade attached.

  The assailants may have fled Moscow in a minivan after abandoning their small Zhiguli, used to navigate the narrow streets immediately after the attack. The driver, Ivan Petrin, 42, died at the scene. Ordzhonikidze managed to crawl from the car into a shop, "Girls, I'm dying, call an ambulance," a pale faced Ordzhonikidze cried. Earlier in the year, Ordzhonikidze's aide was attacked in a similar incident, the driver was injured but the aide was not.

  Ordzhonikidze has regularly recieved anonymous threats since becoming deputy head in 1990. Ordzhonikidze's has been responsible for bringing large scale investment to Moscow, and developing casinos and hotels. Recently he signed a deal with a British firm for the construction of a Formula one motor racing circuit in Moscow.

  In recent years, eight senior city officials have been attacked, and Ordzhonikidze was the second deputy Mayor to fall victim to an assination attempt.