MOSCOW COURT UPHOLDS KVACHKOV'S ARREST

MOSCOW, April 5 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow city court upheld the arrest of Vladimir Kvachkov, who is charged with making an attempt on the life of RAO UES (Unified Energy Systems) CEO Anatoly Chubais.

The court therefore turned down an appeal by Kvachkov's lawyers, who requested that the court choose any other measure of restriction except arrest.

On March 19 the court issued a ten-day warrant for Kvachkov's arrest. On March 25 the prosecutor's office charged him with attempted premeditated murder.

Kvachkov's lawyer Vladimir Levin told RIA Novosti that his client had pleaded not guilty.

Chubais' motorcade was fired upon in the morning of March 10, while leaving Zhavoronki town (that is, one kilometer from the Minsk-highway intersection). The RAO UES chief executive officer was not hurt in the attack.

Colonel and former General Staff officer Vladimir Kvachkov was arrested on charges of complicity in the attack. According to the Russian Defense Ministry's press service, Kvachkov had resigned in the late 1980s. He worked as a civilian specialist with the General Staff for a while, eventually retiring.

The department for grave crimes of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office started investigating this case on March 28.