Attempted Murder?

The lawyer who is prosecuting the Communist Party is nearly killed

Spectacular accidents are so common along Moscow's broad avenues, where drivers weave through multiple lanes at high speed, that they rarely merit public attention. But when a private car forced a speeding government Volga sedan into oncoming traffic last week, causing the Volga to sideswipe another car, somersault across four lanes and knock down a tree, some Russian officials called the crash an assassination attempt. Why? The Volga carried Sergei Shakhrai, former Russian Deputy Prime Minister and President Boris Yeltsin's top lawyer in a court case that will decide the fate of the Communist Party.

Shakhrai, who is trying to prove...

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