Vladimir Arutyunian

Vladimir Arutyunian
Arutyunian waiting with the hand grenade in a handkerchief
Born	(1978-03-12) 12 March 1978 (age 38) Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Georgian
Known for	Attempted assassination of George W. Bush and Mikheil Saakashvili

Vladimir Arutyunian (Georgian: ვლადიმერ არუთუნიანი, Armenian: Վլադիմիր Հարությունյան; born 12 March 1978) is an Armenian man who attempted to assassinate United States President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by throwing a hand grenade at them on 10 May 2005. The attempt failed when the grenade did not detonate. He was later arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Vladimir Arutyunian was born on 12 March 1978 in Tbilisi, Soviet Georgia. He is a Georgian citizen and an ethnic Armenian. Arutyunian lost his father at an early age and lived with his mother, who traded in the market. They lived in one of the poorest suburbs of Tbilisi. After completing his secondary education, he had no fixed occupation.

He joined the Democratic Union for Revival party led by Aslan Abashidze in January 2004, but soon after left the organization's ranks. The Revival party was formed and joined by Arutyunian in the same month Mikheil Saakashvili became president of Georgia, and had led Adjara in a crisis by refusing to obey the central government authorities. Saakashvili and his party were considered to be pro-United States, while Abashidze and his party were considered to be pro-Russia. The crisis had ended in later 2004 without bloodshed.

On 10 May 2005, Arutyunian waited for United States President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to speak. When Bush began speaking, Arutyunian threw a Soviet-made RGD-5 hand grenade, wrapped in a red plaid handkerchief, toward the podium where Bush stood as he addressed the crowd. The grenade landed 18.6 metres (61 ft) from the podium, near where Saakashvili, his wife Sandra E. Roelofs, Laura Bush, and other officials were seated.