Chakhmakhchyan, 54, an ex-senator from the Kalmykia Region in southern Russia, is accused of "misappropriating property" worth $1.5 million, the Prosecutor General's Office said.
Prosecutors accuse Chakhmakhchyan of forming an organized crime group to extort funds from companies, including air carrier Transaero.
Investigators said Chakhmakhchyan and his associates arrived at the Transaero office June 2, where they were caught receiving $300,000 in cash specially marked by police.
"Last April, former senator Chakhmakhchyan and other members of the criminal group pressed top managers of a major airline, through deception and abuse of office, to give them $1.5 million for resolving the company's alleged problems with tax payments and customs duties," investigators said.
The ex-senator's lawyer, Boris Kuznetsov, said he would appeal the charges. "I will appeal with the Basmanny Court of Moscow against the charges because I find them illegal and unsubstantiated," he said.
A former deputy head of the Federation Council's committee for self-government, Chakhmakhchyan was dismissed from the post after being allegedly caught up in the bribery scandal in June 2006. He was not arrested until February 1 for health reasons.
On that day, the Basmanny Court sanctioned a two-month custody for Chakhmakhchyan, adding that the former senator could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The judge also said Chakhmakhchyan's health allowed him to stay in custody.
Russia's Supreme Court agreed in December to launch criminal proceedings in absentia against Chakhmakhchyan, who was in the hospital at the time. The former senator's defense appealed the decision, and the court will hear the appeal March 6.
In June, Federal security agents found $300,000 in cash, which had been previously marked with special ink, in the office of the chief accountant of the non-governmental organization, Association of Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation. An ethnic Armenian, Chakhmakhchyan was vice president of the organization.
Prosecutors said Chakhmakhchyan's "crime group" also involved his son-in-law, Armen Oganesyan, who was an assistant auditor in the Russian Audit Chamber, and the chief accountant at the Association of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation.
Chakhmakhchyan's lawyer said the two suspects in the case had been arrested but that his client dismissed all the accusations as "absolute nonsense."
