Moscow - Gunmen shot dead the head of an independent Russian radio station waging a high-profile campaign against graft in a murder colleagues described as a "political hit".
Mr Sergei Novikov, who ran the "Spring" radio station in Smolensk, 300 km west of Moscow, was shot near the entrance to his home late on Wednesday, news reports said.
Journalists at the station linked Mr Novikov's death to his threat to run against the local governor, Mr Alexander Prokhorov, unless corruption was stamped out.