[Excerpt: There was widespread speculation the attack could have been related to a business feud or Chubais' political activities as a leading economic reformer....ome observers said they feared an attack on Chubais might mark a return to Russia's instability of the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.]
http://64.94.180.107/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HJW4KVASF1HL2CRBAEZSFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=7947558 Former Russian Soldier Held Over Chubais Attack Fri Mar 18, 2005 01:53 PM ET By Christian Lowe MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police were questioning a retired special forces officer on Friday over a failed assassination attempt on Anatoly Chubais, head of Russia's state power monopoly, media reports said. Chubais, one of Russia's best-known figures and the architect of post-Soviet economic reforms, escaped unhurt when assailants hidden in trees detonated a roadside bomb and sprayed his convoy with automatic fire as he drove to work on Thursday. There was widespread speculation the attack could have been related to a business feud or Chubais' political activities as a leading economic reformer. Some observers said they feared an attack on Chubais might mark a return to Russia's instability of the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A spokeswoman for the Moscow region prosecutor's office told Reuters a man had been detained on Thursday on suspicion of trying to kill Chubais but declined to identify him. Russian news agencies, quoting unnamed police sources, said the suspect was a 57-year-old former specialist in military sabotage operations and Chubais' neighbor at an out-of-town residential compound. This detail prompted some police sources to suggest that the reasons behind the attack could have nothing to do with conspiracy theories mulled by the media. "So far, it is very difficult to single out one version of the attack on Anatoly Chubais," RIA news agency quoted one police official as saying. "It is possible that personal enmity was the reason." EXPLOSIVES FOUND Police traced the man's address through a green Saab car registered to his wife that was found near the scene, and later found explosives during a search of his home in central Moscow, Interfax news agency reported. The Kommersant newspaper, also quoting police sources, said the man was a retired colonel and decorated veteran of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Chubais told a news briefing on Thursday he had been aware of a plan to kill him but refused to say who he thought was behind the attack. He said last November he had been the target of three assassination attempts, which he said were linked to his political activity. The 49-year-old tycoon has become a popular hate figure in Russia for his role as the architect of post-Soviet economic reforms under which two dozen "oligarchs" acquired vast wealth while ordinary people suffered a huge slump in living standards. Chubais is now chief executive of Unified Energy System (UES), and the prime mover behind reforms to introduce competition to the power sector of the world's largest country. "This (attack) is more than just an every day act of crime. It is clearly of a political and economic nature. Because very important and well-known people ... ordered this hit," the Izvestia newspaper said in a front-page commentary. Under the headline "Too many enemies," the Vedomosti newspaper listed business conflicts in which Chubais had been involved. Aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska was Chubais' main opponent, said the newspaper, adding the two were fighting for control over a Siberian hydro-electric power station that supplied power to one of Deripaska's smelting plants. UES was also locked in a row with Moscow authorities over control of Mosenergo, the utility monopoly's biggest regional unit, Vedomosti said. All the parties to the business conflicts had denied having anything to do with Thursday's attack, the newspaper said. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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