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ATTEMPT ON CHUBAIS' LIFE MAY BE PERSONAL

MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti) - Investigators have not ruled out the fact that the Thursday attempt on the life of head of Unified Energy Systems Anatoly Chubais could be a personal vendetta, a source close to the investigation told RIA Novosti.

"So far, it is very difficult to single out one version of the attack on Anatoly Chubais. However, it is quite possible that the version of personal enmity could dominate," he said.

According to the source, the investigation does not have direct evidence of the involvement of the suspect, detained in Moscow on Thursday.

"He (the suspect) was detained yesterday as a result of the operational measures after the Saab car, in which the attackers could have disappeared, was found on the Berezhkovskaya Embankment in Moscow," the spokesman said.

He specified that the policemen had identified the owner of the car and her closest relatives.

Investigators decided to detain the car owner's husband and investigators searched the suspect's home and country house, the source said.

He said that the suspect denies his involvement in the attack. Investigation will decide Friday if they will bring charges against and arrest him.

"Otherwise, he will be released," the source said.

On Thursday morning the cars of Chubais and his bodyguards, a BMW and Mitsubishi, were shot at near the boarder of Zhavoronki in Odintsovo district with the Moscow region. Before the shooting, an explosion thundered. Chubais came out unharmed.

The explosive device, placed at the side of the road and spiked with destructive elements, was equivalent to a kilogram of TNT.

The BMW in which Chubais was riding did not stop and continued its way to Moscow, while the car with the bodyguards came under the fire of automatic weapons used by attackers hiding in a nearby forest.

No one was hurt in the attack.