The mayor of the Moscow region town of Sergiyev Posad, Yevgeny Dushko, was shot dead Monday morning in a possible contract killing, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Dushko was twice at about 7:30 a.m. as he was leaving his house. He died in a hospital.
Dushko was elected mayor in April by the 25-person local parliament that he formerly chaired.
Sergiyev Posad, a historic town of about 105,000 people 60 kilometers north of Moscow, is most famous for being home to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the largest monastery in Russia.
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