Russian general killed by Moscow car bomb, in latest attack on top military officers
By Svitlana Vlasova, Todd Symons, Tim Lister, CNN
(CNN) — A Russian general has been killed in a car bombing in Moscow, with officials pointing the finger at Ukraine for the latest apparent assassination of a senior military officer.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, who ran the armed forces operational training department, died after an explosive device installed under the chassis of a car exploded on Monday morning, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.
“Investigators are pursuing various motives for the murder. One of the theories is that the crime was organized by Ukrainian special services,” the committee added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was “immediately informed” of the death of Sarvarov via special services channels, according to the Kremlin.
Several prominent Russians have been killed by explosive devices or shot dead in Moscow in attacks blamed on the Ukrainian security services since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Video released by Russian state media Monday showed a badly damaged vehicle in a parking lot in a middle-class neighborhood of Moscow.
Sarvarov had been head of the training department for nine years, according to state news agency TASS. The 56-year-old had previously “carried out the tasks of organizing and conducting an operation in Syria,” when Russian forces were backing the Assad regime, TASS said.
Other recent deaths
Senior Russian officers killed in Moscow have included Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational department of the General Staff, who was the victim of a car bomb attack near Moscow in April.
A year ago, Igor Kirillov, a general in charge of the Russian military’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces, died after an explosive device planted on a scooter was detonated near the entrance to a residential building. Ukraine swiftly claimed responsibility for that assasination.
Others to have been killed include the founder of a pro-Russian militia group, Armen Sarkisyan, described by Ukraine as a “criminal mastermind,” who died following a bombing in central Moscow, in February this year.
Several prominent political figures have also died, including a leading figure in Russia’s nationalist movement, Darya Dugina, in 2022. An influential pro-war blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a cafe bombing in St Petersburg in April 2023.
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