Anatoly Chubais, head of Russia's state power monopoly, survived an assassination attempt today by assailants who detonated a roadside bomb and sprayed his convoy with a hail of automatic gunfire.
The 49-year-old Chubais, one of Russia's best-known figures, came to prominence as the architect of post-Soviet economic reforms under which two dozen "oligarchs" acquired vast wealth while ordinary people suffered a huge slump in living standards.
He is currently chief executive of Unified Energy System , and the prime mover behind reforms to introduce competition to the power sector of the world's largest country.
In his first comment since the attack, Mr Chubais said he knew who wanted him dead, but did not name them, and refused to be intimidated.
"Everything that I have done - in reforming the country's power sector, and in uniting the country's democratic parties - I will continue doing, with twice the strength," Mr Chubais said in a one-paragraph statement.
Company officials said Mr Chubais arrived at his Moscow office unscathed after the assassination attempt.
Police said he had been travelling in a two-car cortege when it came under attack at 9:30 am (6:30 am Irish time) on the Minsk Highway west of Moscow.
A police source told Itar-Tass news agency the roadside bomb had exploded with a force equivalent to 500 grams of TNT.
The armoured BMW in which Chubais was travelling left the scene immediately, while security guards travelling in a Mitsubishi Lancer got out and returned fire at two assailants who managed to escape.