Russian Lawmaker Found in Barrel of Cement

The body of Mikhail Pakhomov, a missing Moscow legislator and construction tycoon, “has been found in a private basement garage on the city’s outskirts, inside a rusted metal barrel filled with cement,” the New York Times reports.

Police said “he had been tortured and killed over an outstanding $80 million loan.”

“The killing recalled the brutal violence that routinely emerged from business disputes in the 1990s. Mr. Pakhomov, who was reported missing last Tuesday, was a promising young star in United Russia, the ruling party founded by President Vladimir V. Putin, and had served as head of a construction company that was reported to have won large contracts to develop utilities and infrastructure in several cities.”