VOLGOGRAD, March 8 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian businessman in the city of Volgograd survived a gun attack on his car despite being riddled with 16 bullets from an assault rifle, regional investigators said on Friday.

The man was attacked by an unknown gunman armed with a Kalashnikov rifle as he drove his Toyota car in the city's Dzerzhinsk district on Thursday evening, Investigative Committee spokeswoman Natalya Kunitskaya said.

"The victim was hit by sixteen bullets, mostly in the left side of his body," she said. "His friends took him to hospital."

The man had been relaxing in a sauna with his friends immediately prior to the attack.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the crime.