Gilani Shepiyev, a former deputy mayor of Grozny, received three fatal gunshot wounds to the head late last night outside his Moscow apartment – an increasingly common affliction for many Russians who are in some way connected to the South Caucasus.  The poor guy had only just barely survived an assassination attempt back in 2006.  Shepiyev is the third high profile former Chechen official murdered in the past four months, following the contract hit on Ruslan Yamadayev, an opponent of the infamous Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.  Last month’s murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who was involved in the case against the alleged rapist and murderer Gen. Yuri Budanov, was actually “condemned” by Kadyrov, who was furious that Budanov was being granted early parole.  In other words, the Chechen murder industry is a completely confusing mess.

But the state doesn’t seem too happy to have Moscow pitch itself into a downward spiral toward 1990s-style gangland shooting gallery.