A Russian tycoon who opened a museum dedicated to Josef Stalin in the southern city of Volgograd was beaten to death yesterday by attackers while on a tennis court, investigators said.

Local businessman Vasily Butyenko was set on by three men on the court in the city at about 0800 GMT and died from injuries including electric shocks, the investigative committee of prosecutors said in a statement.

"Three unknown assailants attacked the businessman Vasily Bukhtyenko at the tennis court... He fell after receiving an electric shock to his leg from one of the attackers, who then struck a blow to his head," it said.

"The victim died from his injuries."

In 2006, Mr Bukhtyenko founded a Stalin museum in Volgograd - formerly called Stalingrad - near the city's towering Mamayev Kurgan monument, which commemorates one of history's bloodiest battles during World War II.

One million people are estimated to have died in the Battle of Stalingrad when Soviet troops and Nazi forces clashed on the Eastern Front from 1942 to 1943.