I have just been told that Alexander Lebed, the charismatic governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai has been killed in the crash of an Mi-8 outside of Abakan. Story is at: http://lenta.ru/russia/2002/04/28/lebed1/ http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/28/russia.lebed/index.html The Mi-8 belonged to an airline called Meridian. I have no record of it. How the death of Lebed has an effect on Krasair (if any) will surely be seen in the coming months, as he has been the airline's most ardent supporter, and has been instrumental in the expansion plans of the airline over recent years.