Assassination attempts
In November 2004, in an interview with Financial Times, Chubais said: "I know of at least three orders for my murder. I know all the details, the names of those who were supposed to carry them out. The last such order was made a year and a half ago. It had purely political motives: hatred because I "sold Russia." When every day, returning home, you assume that a killer with an anti-tank grenade launcher could be around the corner, then your perception of political risks changes. Yes, perhaps today, the risk is several percent higher than in 2000. But in 1992–1999, the risk was several times greater."
Six months later, in March 2005, an attempt was made on Chubais. On the route of his car near the village of Zhavoronki, Odintsovsky District, Moscow Oblast, an explosive device with a capacity of 3 to 12 kg of TNT was detonated, followed by machine gun fire. Chubais and his companions were saved by the fact that the car they were in was armored.
The president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Arkady Volsky, said that the people behind the attempt on Chubais were "those whom we often see on TV, whose names appear in the media." Nikolay Kovalyov, then the former head of the Federal Security Service and chairman of the State Duma Committee on Veterans Affairs, expressed the opinion that they did not want to kill Chubais, but to intimidate him, and the attack was ordered by the heads of energy companies who were dissatisfied with Chubais's activities at RAO UES. On the contrary, Boris Nemtsov argued that the attempt on Chubais's life was not related to his work at RAO, but "was of a political nature," especially since the death threats repeatedly received by Chubais "came from his political enemies." Vyacheslav Volodin, then Vice-Speaker of the State Duma from the United Russia faction, suggested that the people behind the assassination attempt were "new candidates for the role of sponsors of the right": Boris Berezovsky and Leonid Nevzlin.
Charges for the assassination attempt were brought against retired GRU colonel Vladimir Kvachkov, former officers of the 45th Airborne Regiment R. P. Yashin and A. I. Naidenov, as well as member of the executive committee of the Congress of Russian Communities Ivan Mironov, the son of the former Chairman of the Press Committee Boris Mironov. The investigation was conducted by the Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. According to investigators, the crime was committed on the basis of extremist views and hostility towards Chubais. In March 2006, the Moscow Regional Court began to consider the criminal case against Kvachkov, Yashin, and Naydenov with the participation of a jury. The criminal case against Ivan Mironov was separated into separate proceedings. The defendants were charged under five articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: encroachment on the life of a statesman or public figure (Article 277); attempted murder (Art. 30, Part 3; Art. 105, Part 2); illegal acquisition and storage of weapons and explosives (Art. 222, Part 3); intentional destruction and damage to property (Art. 167, Part 2).
On 20 December 2006, the jury was dismissed after a prosecution witness recanted his testimony given during the investigation that he had heard the defendants talking about their intention to commit an attempt on Chubais. The defendants' lawyers believed that the witness testified during the investigation under pressure. Representatives of Chubais believed that unprecedented pressure was exerted by the defense on the jury. On December 6, the second jury was dissolved: it turned out that one of the jurors could not serve as a jury by law, since she was registered in a drug dispensary. On 5 June 2008, the third jury returned a not guilty verdict to all three defendants, recognizing the charges against them as unproven.
In an interview with Echo of Moscow on the first day after his release, Kvachkov said that he considered himself a Russian nationalist and stated: "I did not want to kill Anatoly Borisovich Chubais, but I would like him to stand trial and be hanged." Kvachkov explained: "the destruction of Chubais is not a crime for me," since "Chubais is a national traitor," and "Russia is occupied by the Jewish mafia."
On 25 June 2008, the Prosecutor General's Office appealed the acquittal in the case of the attempt on Chubais. On 26 August 2008, the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal and sent the case for a new trial to the Moscow Regional Court. The charges against Ivan Mironov were combined with the charges against the other defendants. On 29 September 2010, the jury again acquitted the defendants. On 22 December 2010, the Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal of the Prosecutor General's Office against the acquittal. Thus, the accused were finally acquitted.
On 23 December 2010, Kvachkov was detained on charges of organizing rebellion and terrorism. On 8 February 2013, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 13 years in prison for preparing to organize an armed rebellion. Later, the Supreme Court of Russia reduced the sentence to eight years in prison.
