[Fdhwzctl]

12:20 GMT, 20 May 2012

Princess Michael's Russian playboy friend shot and killed near Moscow in brutal 'contract murder'

Princess Michael's Russian friend once dubbed her 'toyboy' was shot and killed near Moscow early today in what
appears to be a brutal contract murder.

Mikhail Kravchenko, a 46-year-old furniture company tycoon, caused a royal scandal after he and the princess
were photographed holding hands and staring lovingly into each other's eyes as they wandered round Venice
during a four day holiday in April 2006.

His bullet-riddled body was found in his Mercedes car at the elite Peredelkino country house neighbourhood close
to the Russian capital.



At the time, the princess denied an affair, though many believed the photographs suggested otherwise.

The pictures, originally in the News of the World, raised significant doubts about the state of her royal marriage to
Prince Michael of Kent.

Russian news agency Itar-Tass another other sources reported the victim was millionaire Kravchenko.

The immediate reasons why he was targeted are unknown.

He was driving from his home in his limonene around 2am when he was overtaken and the road blocked, say police.



Gunmen shot him five times in his body before dragging him from his car and shooting him in the head.

Some accounts said there were a total of ten shots.

When she was seen with him in Venice, Kravchenko was regarded as one of Moscow's most eligible men. He has
been single since his wife Svetlana and daughter Maria were killed in a car crash five years earlier.

He was also seen as more modest and unassuming than many wealthy Russian businessmen. He would often be seen
without bodyguards, a rarity for the new-rich elite in Moscow.



Prince Michael was in Russia last week without the princess. He flew to St Petersburg to be awarded with a degree by a
Russian university for services to British-Russian relations.

The prince was mired in controversy last week after revelations he had accepted £320,000 in secret payments from
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a leading foe of President Vladimir Putin.

The payments via an offshore company from Berezovsky - who is exiled in London - were disclosed in court documents.