Ukraine: Israeli oligarch escapes assassination

Financial tycoon Vadim Rabinovich falls victim to near hit upon leaving his office parking lot in Kiev

Kiev – Masked men attempted to assassinate Jewish Ukrainian business tycoon Vadim Rabinovich near his offices in Kiev, Yedioth Ahronoth learned Monday. The assassination attempt was unsuccessful.

Rabinovich, 59, left the parking lot of his office building around 3:30 pm when suddenly an incendiary device was thrown at his car from the direction of a nearby empty house. A large explosion was heard in the area and windows in nearby buildings shattered. 

Shortly after the explosion, police officers and sappers arrived at the scene. One woman present during the event told police she had seen a man in his 30s running down the street immediately after the explosion. "The blast was so strong that it made me jump off of my chair," one of the workers in Rabinovich’s office said when describing its intensity.

Rabinovich himself was unharmed and efforts were made to avoid referring to the attempt on his life. "The police and the security forces are investigating the event, we do not have anything to add at this point,” a source close to Rabinovich told Yedioth Ahronoth.

Later Rabinovich broke his silence, telling the local television station that anyone providing information that leads to the capture of those responsible will receive a prize of UAH 1 million (roughly $133,900).

A French media agency reported that Rabinovich told police that he had recently received threats to his life from a “high ranking source” demanding he relinquish control of the local satellite Jewish television station, “Jewish News 1” (JN1), which he established together with Jewish business man Igor Kolomoisky.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4352356,00.html