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Some viewed the 2007 assassination of Maksim Kurochkin as an implicit threat to politicians and businesspeople who talk too much. UNIAN 'Mad Max' killed outside Kyiv court

The murder of Russian businessman Maksim Kurochkin, known as "Mad Max," ranks as one of the most sensational crimes since Victor Yushchenko came to power. The killing had chilling implications for other business and political figures.

Known for his love of violence and cocaine, “Mad Max” died minutes after a bullet pierced his chest from a sniper shot as he exited a Kyiv courthouse under police escort in March 2007. He was on trial for extortion.

Days earlier, he had begged the judge to release him on bail. “I don’t want to die, please let me go,” he pleaded. His assassination raised fears that Yushchenko’s Ukraine was slipping back to the days of the crime-ridden 1990s, when similarly brazen killings were common.

Kurochkin owned vast properties in Ukraine. A close ally of Victor Yanukovych, Kurochkin was the director of the Russian Club, an organization set up with Kremlin allies to back Yanukovych’s 2004 presidential bid. Kurochkin was arrested when he flew to Ukraine in December 2006, despite knowing that he had been charged in absentia. Media speculated that he intended to strike a deal with prosecutors and reveal “dirty tricks” from the elections in exchange for amnesty.

Mad Max claimed he survived 18 assassination attempts, including a car bombing in Kyiv during the 2004 elections. Authorities denied that Kurochkin’s murder reflected an increase in politically-motivated violence, but four businessmen connected to Kurochkin have since been killed. “This was a warning to some political figures that it is very easy to use (murder) as a tool to get rid of a certain politician. They don’t want to do that, but they can, if there is no other option,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, chairman of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies.