MOSCOW, September 19 (RAPSI) - Russia will ask Georgia to extradite alleged murderer of a Russian diplomat in Abkhazia, Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin said Thursday.

Dmitry Vishernyov, first secretary at Russia's embassy in the regional capital Sukhumi, was killed by a gunshot to the head in the garage of his home at about 8:30 am on September 9, local police said. His wife was wounded in the attack and died in the hospital on September 14.

Yusup Lakayev, a native of Grozny, has been detained in Georgia on suspicion of this murder.

"Lakayev left Abkhazia hastily after the commission of crime. On September 13, he was injured and then detained in Batumi during the suppression of armed infringement on lives of Georgia's police officers," Markin said.

Abkhazia de facto broke away from Georgia following a war in 1992-93, and was formally recognized as independent of Tbilisi by Russia in 2008 following a conflict in another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia. Russia has been a close ally of Abkhazia in its drive for independence and has a security assistance agreement with Sukhumi.
Political violence is not unknown in Abkhazia. In February 2012, unknown assassins tried to kill the republics President Alexander Ankvab in a gun and bomb attack on his motorcade.