Incident Summary:
3/17/2005: Anatoly Chubais was on his way to work, coming from a suburb in Moscow, when a roadside bomb detonated near his two-car convoy and two gunmen open fired with automatic rifles. Chubais, is the head of Russia's state-controlled electricity monopoly. He was blamed for the drop in living standards that resulted from his post-Soviet economic reforms, which allowed for the privatization of state-owned property. Investigators believe that the former military servicemen were motivated by extremist views and a violent dislike of Chubais, who spearheaded economic reforms in the 1990s, impoverishing millions, and leaving the economy in the hands of a few powerful and connected businessmen. Robert Yashin and Alexander Naidyonov conspired with former military intelligence colonel, Kvachkov Vladimir Kvachkov, his son Alexander, and Ivan Mironov to commit the crime.
Overview
GTD ID:
200503170006
When:
2005-03-17
Country:
Russia
Region:
Eastern Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Moscow
City:
Zhavoronki
Location Details:
Anatoly Chubais was on his way to work, coming from a suburb in Moscow.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Assassination |
Successful Attack? () |
No |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Business |
Name of Entity |
Chief executive of Unified Energy Systems (UES) and a co-founder of the liberal Union of Right Forces party. |
Specific Description |
Anatoly Chubais |
Nationality of Target |
Russia |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Minor (likely < $1 million) |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Automatic Weapon |
Explosives |
Dynamite/TNT |
Weapon Details |
A roadside bomb [11.5 kilograms of TNT] detonated near the 2-car convoy and gunmen opened fire with automatic rifles. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
On June 5, 2008 the jurors acquitted the defendants: Colonel Vladimir Kvachkov of the military intelligence service GRU (retired), and two former paratroopers, Alexander Naidenov and Robert Yashin. All arrestees were instantly released from custody in the courtroom. On August 26, 2008 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial. The fourth defendant involved in the case, Ivan Mironov, was detained in December 2006. On October 13, 2009 the Moscow Region Court returned the Chubais assassination case to the Prosecutor-General's Office for its merger with that of Ivan Mironov [ITAR-TASS News Agency]. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Unknown |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
2 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
4 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Mainville, Michael. “Would-Be Assassins Attack Russian Privatization Mogul,” The Sun, March 18, 2005 |
“Court Refuses to Drop Case on Attack on Chubais,” Russia and CIS General Newswire,” July 31, 2006 |
“Chubais assassination attempt case to be retried,” ITAR-TASS News Agency, August 22, 2009 |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties