MOSCOW — Kaunas native Shabattai Kalmanovich, well-known as a sports team owner, convicted Soviet spy and diamond industry mogul was shot in his car on Nov. 2 in Moscow at around 4.30 p.m. local time.
According to investigation results, it was a contract murder reminiscent of the chaotic early 90s when business disagreements and unwanted competition in Russia eliminated with violence. It looks like the script hasn’t changed.
Friends and partners of 61-year-old businessman and former KGB spy Kalmanovich said the Lithuanian Jew may have been involved in a risky business venture that prompted the hit job murder.
Kalmanovich was sitting inside his Mercedes S500 when his driver Petr Tumanov stopped on a traffic light near the Novodevichy passage when gunfire opened on the car. Investigators say the killer was familiar with Kalmanovich’s daily routine, most importantly the fact that he always sat down next to the driver, as Kalmanovich was shot through the glass of the right passenger door. The victim took about 10 bullets and died on the spot.
The driver tried to leave while under the fire and even to pursue the murderers, but because of a bullet wound he lost consciousness and crashed into a pole. According to eyewitnesses, criminals left the scene in a silver Lada Priora with no license plates. The investigatory committee of Russia’s Office of Public Prosecutor is pressing charges of murder, attempted murder and illegal use of the weapon. The police investigation is ongoing.
In an official statement of the committee, the murder was committed in connection with business of Kalmanovich. He was engaged in versatile business, in many aspects closed not only for general public, but also for friends. His activities included such fields as pharmaceuticals, real estate and trade. Also he invested in sports, primarily basketball.
Basketball big-shot
Kalmanovich became the co-owner of top Kaunas basketball team Žalgiris, which won Euroleague in 1999. After that he jokingly declared that for victory he should be awarded a title of a baron and preferred to be called Shabattai von Kalmanovich. Lithuania’s then-president Valdas Adamkus granted him Lithuanian citizenship after the win. A year later Kalmanovich sold his shares of the company.
Kalmanovich did not limit himself to men’s basketball. He was also president of the female basketball team Spartak, which plays in the Moscow suburbs, won Euroleague under his stewardship three consecutive times in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The leader of the national Latvian women’s basketball team Anete Jēkabsone-Žogota, who also plays at Spartak, was shocked by the latest news and did not know how the club would be able to manage without its president.
“We are departing to Hungary tomorrow. I cannot imagine that we will fly to the game without Shabattai. It is terribe,” Jēkabsone-Žogota told the Latvian newspaper Telegraf.
Kalmanovich was also famous for bringing Western musical acts to the newly free Russia. He organized Russian tours for famous pop stars like Michael Jackson, Liza Minelli and José Carreras.
in 1987 he was convicted of spying for the U.S.S.R. in Israel over the course of 17 years while working in the Knesset. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, but was released after five. He then moved to Sierra Leone and became wealthy in the country’s diamond trade.
