A Russian general was killed Monday morning after an explosive device detonated underneath his car in Moscow, and investigators said Ukraine could be behind the attack, the third such killing of a senior military officer in a year.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff, died from his injuries, said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation's top criminal investigation agency.
“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin had been immediately informed about Sarvarov's killing.
The Defense Ministry said that Sarvarov had previously fought in Chechnya and taken part in Moscow's military campaign in Syria.
Just over a year ago, on Dec. 17, 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov's assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.
An Uzbek man was quickly arrested and charged with killing Kirillov on behalf of the Ukrainian security service.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “major blunder” by Russia’s security agencies, noting they should learn from it and improve their efficiency.
But in April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car parked near to his apartment building just outside Moscow. A suspected perpetrator was quickly arrested.
Moscow also has blamed Ukraine for several bombings and other attacks in Russia.
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5 Comments
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HopeSpringsEternal
Hard to say if it was Putin's crew or a Ukrainian operation, as Putin routinely eliminates under performers
USNinJapan2
Since this is Russia, it's 50/50 whether he was killed by his own government or a foreign element.
isabelle
That's one less Russian war criminal left to terrorize innocent Ukrainians.
Looks like we have a very successful "special military operation" here.
Slava Ukraini
Peter14
Hard to find any sympathy for this General, given who he worked for.
JJE
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s appointed special representative for Ukraine, criticized Ukraine's killing of Russian generals last year, saying such actions violate the rules of warfare. And for once he was absolutely right because he knows that this amounts to terrorism plain and simple, not to mention wat crimes. In reply to this, a prominent Russian lawmaker has called for the network chain - meaning all the offenders - to be "destroyed on the spot" by process of elimination with no prisoners taken, which is generally how terrorists are dealt with. Expect some coconuts to roll because this means retribution will be coming from Moscow and it will most likely be of a punitive nature.