Bondarevsky published more than 80 articles and researches on Islam in Russia

By Riyad Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (IslamOnline.net) - Prominent Russian specialist in Islamic affairs Grigory Bondarevsky was killed Friday, August 8, in an apparent attack on his Moscow apartment and one of his inestimable research on the Chechen struggle for independence had disappeared, a Russian newspaper reported Saturday, August 9.

The attack occurred at 12:30 p.m., when unknown assailants stormed Bondarevsky's apartment and struck him on his head with a hard object.

The daily said the main reason behind the killing of the 83-year-old expert is his unique researches on the Chechen struggle, noting that the attackers had not stolen anything from his apartment except a Chechnya-related research.

However, the Russian interior ministry suggested the killers might have been members of the Russian Mafias.

The paper further said that the Russian academic joined hands in preparing a research on Chechnya at the request of the Russian interior ministry in 2002.

He has had his name on more than 80 articles and researches on the spread of Islam in Russia and the problems of the country's Muslim provinces.

Bondarevsky, whose publications included "Muslims and the West" (New Dehli, 1985), was also an expert on Afghanistan and the Middle East and advised the Russian government on Caucasus-related issues.

He was also a noted expert on India and in 2000 received one of India's top awards to public figures, the Padma Shri.

Bondarevsky was the third leading Russian academic to have died a violent death this year.

In June, Alexander Krasovsky of the Academy of Sciences died following an armed burglary into his apartment, while in January Viktor Frantzuzov, deputy rector of the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technologies, was shot dead.