U.S. culture in Russia took a grim step forward Monday when Moscow police announced that the killing of a banker in the Gagarin region marked the first recorded baseball-bat murder in this country's history.
Sergei Parakhin, 26, the commercial director of Moskovsky Gorodskoi Bank, was murdered in his garage on Ulitsa Vavilova late Friday night by three men who surprised him and a friend and made demands for money.
When Parakhin hesitated, one of the three men picked up what was apparently Parakhin's own aluminum baseball bat from a corner of the garage and struck him on the head, killing him instantly.
"As far as we can tell, this was the first baseball-bat murder in Russian history," said Vladislav Fennutin of the Southwestern department of the Moscow police.
"I imagine we'll see more of them," he added.
Baseball arrived in Russia in 1987, but the sport has failed to achieve widespread popularity.
Still, baseball equipment, particularly bats, began to appear in stores around 1993.
There is some evidence that many of the bats sold are being used as weapons.
"Pretty much every single bat used in the Russian leagues comes from a sponsor or from donations," said Sasha Bogatirev, third baseman for the Red Army professional team.
"If there are other bats being sold, they're not being used for baseball," he added.
Sergei Parakhin, 26, the commercial director of Moskovsky Gorodskoi Bank, was murdered in his garage on Ulitsa Vavilova late Friday night by three men who surprised him and a friend and made demands for money.
When Parakhin hesitated, one of the three men picked up what was apparently Parakhin's own aluminum baseball bat from a corner of the garage and struck him on the head, killing him instantly.
"As far as we can tell, this was the first baseball-bat murder in Russian history," said Vladislav Fennutin of the Southwestern department of the Moscow police.
"I imagine we'll see more of them," he added.
Baseball arrived in Russia in 1987, but the sport has failed to achieve widespread popularity.
Still, baseball equipment, particularly bats, began to appear in stores around 1993.
There is some evidence that many of the bats sold are being used as weapons.
"Pretty much every single bat used in the Russian leagues comes from a sponsor or from donations," said Sasha Bogatirev, third baseman for the Red Army professional team.
"If there are other bats being sold, they're not being used for baseball," he added.