SIZEABLE REWARDS

Kozlov's killing was an "insolent challenge to all those who work to strengthen law and order in our country," the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said in a statement that called for a rigorous police investigation.

Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said the investigation was focusing on the theory that Kozlov's murder was linked to his work. "He could have had many enemies," he said.

News reports said Kozlov had been cavalier about his own protection, often moving around without bodyguards, and was easy prey for the gunmen who ambushed him as he walked to his Mercedes car on Wednesday night.

Anatoly Aksakov, an old friend in the Duma, was quoted by Vedomosti newspaper as saying he once met Kozlov coming out of the theater one evening without a bodyguard.

"I was even glad that in our country a man taking part in such a tough business (as selecting banks for licences) could calmly walk in the street. Now it appears I was wrong," he said.

Many high-profile contract assassinations, a feature of post-Soviet life, have remained unsolved. And in cases where killers have been brought to justice, those who ordered the "hit" have often remained at large.

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