Difference between death threat and attempt
The threat of murder is qualified according to Art. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In practice, it can be quite difficult to distinguish it from a real assassination attempt. Meanwhile, punishments for these crimes vary significantly: under Part 1 of Article 105 of the Russian Federation, 9, Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, you can get up to 15 years in prison, and under Part 1 of Art. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - only 2 years.
For convenience, we present the distinction between these crimes in the table.
| Distinctive feature | Assassination | Death threat |
| Attacker's goal | Take a person's life. The offender does everything necessary to achieve this goal, but the crime does not end for reasons beyond his control | Intimidate the victim. Probably, the attacker does not plan to take a person’s life at all, but acts this way in order to force her to do / not do something |
| The criminal has a will/desire | The crime is interrupted without the will of the guilty person. For example, relatives or friends may come to the victim’s aid, or the attacker’s weapon malfunctions, or the dosage of poison turns out to be insufficient | A person has the opportunity to commit actions to cause death to someone, but voluntarily refuses them |
| Possibility of causing more serious harm to the victim | Any harm to health is caused, but death never occurred | No significant harm to health is caused. The maximum that the specified composition covers is mild harm |
| Sanctions | Mandatory imprisonment is provided | Possible options: compulsory work for a period of 480 hours; restriction of freedom up to 2 years; forced labor for up to 2 years; arrest for up to 6 months; imprisonment for up to 2 years. |
