‘He pulled out an axe and started hitting me’ Russian ‘arms baron’ Mikhail Khubutia reportedly facing criminal charges over brutal attack on ex-girlfriend
Mikhail Khubutia, a former Russian official turned arms dealer, is reportedly facing criminal charges for attacking his ex-girlfriend with an axe. Yulia Wang, who has a child with Khubutia, accused him of attempting to kill her in late April, following an attack that left her with serious injuries. Khubutia has denied the allegations, but Telegram channels with ties to Russian law enforcement report that police have opened a criminal case against him for assault and making death threats. Here’s what we know about the case so far.
The brutal attack on Yulia Wang was first reported on April 25 by Ostorozhno Novosti, a Telegram Channel linked to Russian media personality Ksenia Sobchak. Wang’s acquaintances told the outlet that prominent businessman Mikhail Khubutia, her former partner, had attacked Wang in her home in Trekhgorka (a village outside Moscow) on the evening of April 24.
According to Ostorozhno Novosti’s account, Khubutia had fled the scene by the time police and paramedics arrived, and Wang was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” The Telegram channel also published a video that appeared to show bloodstains in Wang’s bedroom. Later, several other major Telegram channels — including Mash, Baza, and Shot — as well as outlets like Msk1, RTVi, and Moskva 24, picked up the story.
That same evening, Wang posted a video on Instagram that she’d recorded while waiting for the paramedics. In it, she claims that Khubutia attacked her with an axe. “He cut my limbs [and] hit me on the head. All this happened while our daughter and her nanny were sleeping in the next room,” she said. “I’m now under medical supervision. I have deep wounds on my arms and legs that have been stitched up.”
On April 28, Moscow regional police announced in a Telegram post that investigators had opened a criminal case on two charges: “intentional infliction of moderate bodily harm” and “threatening to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.” The suspect wasn’t named, but the Telegram channels Mash and 112 reported that the case was opened against Khubutia in connection with the attack on Wang.
‘I’m going to kill you’
On May 1, Ksenia Sobchak released an interview with Yulia Wang on her YouTube channel. In the video, which has since racked up more than 1.4 million views, Wang is seen sitting in a wheelchair with one leg elevated. She also has bandages on both of her hands.
In the interview, Wang tells Sobchak that she’d been in a relationship with Mikhail Khubutia since 2018, but that they’d broken up last year, after which he threatened her repeatedly. Recounting the April 24 attack, Wang claims that Khubutia arrived at her home around 11:00 p.m. local time and entered her room. After a brief exchange, he allegedly began twisting her arm. Then, “he pulled out a small hunting axe and started hitting me on the legs with the lower part,” she says (likely referring to the handle).
Wang goes on to say that Khubutia also struck other parts of her body and shouted “I’m going to kill you!” At first, she called for help. Then, realizing the room was covered in blood, Wang decided to play dead — at which point Khubutia stopped what he was doing, took the axe, and left.
Sobchak also published CCTV footage that appears to show Khubutia, his black Range Rover (with a driver), and another vehicle (possibly a taxi) arriving in Trekhgorka at 10:52 p.m. local time. The Range Rover drops off a man — whom Wang identified as Khubutia — who then approaches the second car, speaks briefly with the driver, and then walks into the neighborhood. Footage from another camera later shows the same man leaving Wang’s house and hurrying toward the edge of the village, where he gets back into the Range Rover and drives off. (Though the second vehicle doesn't appear in the latter footage, Wang believes Khubutia later switched cars, which she argues supports her claim that the attack was premeditated.)
Wang tells Sobchak that after Khubutia left, she ran to the room where her daughter’s nanny, Tatyana, was sleeping. When Wang asked Tatyana how she slept through her screaming, the nanny said she’d taken phenazepam, a sedative, before going to bed. Wang also claims that the nanny delayed calling the police and medics, instead “pacing around the house” for a while. In the meantime, Wang managed to call her family and her boyfriend.
Sobchak also included a clip from an interview with Tatyana, who said Mikhail Khubutia had been paying her salary. The nanny maintained that she didn’t hear the assault, claiming she'd taken “just a little — half of a 0.01 milligram dose of phenazepam.” Tatyana, a Belarusian citizen, said she planned to leave Russia on April 30.
Wang told Sobchak that when police arrived at the house, they didn’t take fingerprints or collect footage from the home’s security cameras. She also said that Tatyana later cleaned the room, despite the fact that she'd explicitly asked the nanny not to touch anything. When asked why, Tatyana told Sobchak’s team that the police had advised her to clean up.
‘Orders from above’
After the attack, Yulia Wang was taken by ambulance to a hospital in the nearby town of Zvenigorod. Her discharge papers, which she shared with Sobchak, say she “appeared to smell of alcohol,” though Wang claims she hadn’t been drinking.
Believing she wasn’t receiving adequate care, Wang’s family took her to another clinic — but the attending physician appeared agitated and “unwelcoming from the very beginning,” she says. According to Wang, the doctors only agreed to do X-rays after she threatened to call the Health Ministry and they insisted there was “nothing wrong” with her injured leg besides some bruising. “We can’t admit you,” she recalled them saying. “We’re sorry, but you understand how it is. We’ve been given orders from above.”
Wang claims that one of Khubutia’s relatives contacted her while she was still in the hospital, asking her not to speak publicly about the incident and suggesting they could “settle” or “discuss” the matter. She also claims another one Khubutia’s family members offered her hush money.
At the time of the interview with Sobchak, Wang was receiving treatment at Olymp Clinic MARS in Moscow. Andrey Tikhov, the head of the hospital’s emergency department, told Sobchak that Wang was admitted in moderate condition and subsequently diagnosed with multiple injuries, including stab and slash wounds, and a broken leg and wrist. Wang’s lawyer, Kristina Vysotskaya, believes her client’s condition should be classified as serious.
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According to Wang, Khubutia also assaulted her three years ago — but despite suffering a concussion, she decided not to go to the authorities. Sources close to Wang told Ostorozhno Novoti that after the couple broke up, Khubutia began threatening her, saying he’d seek custody of their child, seize her assets, and “send her to a psych ward.”
Khubutia has denied the allegations. “Utter nonsense,” he told the pro-government network REN TV when asked to respond to Wang’s claims. Khubutia then claimed he wasn’t in Moscow at the time of the assault, though he did not specify his whereabouts.
In a phone call with Sobchak, Khubutia initially dismissed the allegations as “nonsense.” But after Wang gave her interview, Khubutia wrote to Sobchak, saying that he visited Trekhgorka regularly to see his daughter. He then admitted that he had been at Wang’s house on April 24, but said the conversation “didn’t go anywhere” and that he left “almost immediately.”
Khubutia also called Wang “a bad girl” who was “just trying to scam people for money,” and accused Wang’s new boyfriend of carrying out the attack.
From minister to arms dealer
Mikhail Khubutia, 58, held senior government positions in Russia in the early 2000s, serving as trade minister for the Moscow region and then as a department head in the Economic Development Ministry.
Though there’s no public estimate of Khubutia’s net worth, he’s been linked to the weapons trade and is often referred to in the press as an “arms baron.” In February 2024, The Insider reported that companies connected to Khubutia had been involved in shipping arms from Italy to Russia, in violation of international sanctions.
Khubutia also owns the company Torgovy Dom Shater, which manages the Gostiny Dvor convention center in central Moscow. According to Forbes, Khubutia holds a personal stake in the complex itself. The building also houses the headquarters of the Kolchuga group, “Russia’s largest wholesale and retail chain for hunting and sporting firearms and ammunition” (according to its website), where Khubutia serves as chairman of the board of directors.
Gostiny Dvor is perhaps the asset most closely associated with Khubutia’s name. The venue hosts frequent trade shows and public events — including President Vladimir Putin’s annual call-in show. In 2013, Forbes estimated its value at $320 million. The complex also hosts the ORЁLEXPO arms and hunting gear exhibition, where Khubutia also serves as chairman of the board.
Yulia Wang is the owner of Van Tea, a cafe on Novy Arbat Avenue in downtown Moscow that offers tea ceremonies.
