Head of Independent Radio Station Is Slain

The head of an independent radio station in the western Russian city of Smolensk was shot to death in his apartment stairwell, a police spokesman said. The body of Sergei Novikov, 37, was found Wednesday night, said police spokesman Alexei Kurtsev. Novikov had been shot four times. Police said that no one heard the shots and that a silencer possibly was used. Novikov was head of the Vesna radio station and also chairman of the board of directors of a glass factory in Smolensk, which is 225 miles southwest of Moscow.