Ukraine veteran shoots business partner dead in St. Petersburg restaurant

A former prison inmate who was released to fight in Ukraine shot and killed his business partner in a St. Petersburg restaurant on Monday before sitting back down to finish his meal, local news website Fontanka reported.

The shooter, Alexey Isakov, said the shooting involved the 7 million rubles (€70,000) his business partner allegedly owed him, some of which he apparently brought to Isakov at the restaurant. 

Fontanka posted footage of the shooting caught on the restaurant’s security camera, which shows Isakov pulling out a gun and shooting at the man sitting across from him. The man falls to the floor, at which point Isakov shoots him again at close range. He then sits back down and carries on eating.

Despite having time to flee the scene, Isakov remained at the restaurant and was detained and charged with murder shortly afterwards. The court is yet to rule on pretrial detention measures.

Isakov had recently returned from fighting in Ukraine, according to Fontanka, which added that he had likely been recruited to fight straight from prison where he had previously been serving a 3.5-year sentence for theft.