Russian bank manager shot dead

MOSCOW, Oct 11 (Reuters) A branch manager with Russia's second largest bank has been shot dead in an apparent contract killing, Moscow prosecutor's office said today.

Alexander Plokhin, who ran a Vneshtorgbank retail branch in southern Moscow, was shot in the head in a suburban apartment building at about 11:30 p.m. yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Moscow prosecutor's office said.

''The murder has the tell-tale signs of a contract killing,'' she said.

''The attacker was waiting for his victim on the staircase. When he came out of the lift, the killer shot him in the head. ... We will be looking at all possible motives for this killing.'' Russia's financial community was shocked last month by the murder of deputy central bank chief Andrei Kozlov in a gangland-style assassination.

State-owned Vneshtorgbank is planning an initial public offering.

Reuters SAM GC1249