The funeral takes place in St Petersburg today of Galina Starovoitova, the prominant Russian politician and reformer, who was shot dead on Friday by an unknown assassin.

Mrs Staravoitova's murder provoked shock and outrage across the nation and the BBC correspondent in Russia says her funeral will be a high profile event: up to three thousand people are expected to attend her memorial service, and her body will be laid in a monastery alongside such Russian figures as Tchaikovsky and Dostoyevsky.

Many mourners have lit candles and laid flowers near the apartment block where she was killed.

Mrs Starovoitova'sassistant, Ruslan Linkov, who was wounded in the attack, has been unable to give investigators any information about the killers.