On Friday, an explosive device ripped through a parked car near Moscow, killing a senior Russian general, according to the Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes. It also announced that a murder investigation had been launched.
The victim was identified as General-Lieutenant Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the military’s main operational directorate.
Investigators said they had launched an investigation into murder and explosives smuggling after the Volkswagen Golf exploded outside a block of flats in Balashikha, east of Moscow.
Images from the scene posted on social media showed a fire that destroyed a car. The deadly attack comes four months after another Russian general and his deputy were killed in an explosion in Moscow.
According to leaked information, Moskalik lived in Balashikha, but the Volkswagen was not registered to him.
The Izvestia newspaper published security camera footage showing a massive explosion, which sent fragments flying into the air. The blast occurs just as someone is seen walking towards the car.
According to investigators, the “blast was caused by the triggering of an improvised explosive device” containing metal fragments designed to cause maximum harm.
According to the Kremlin website, Moskalik was a Russian military representative at the “Normandy format” talks on Ukraine in 2015, during the conflict between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists.
In 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin elevated him to the rank of general lieutenant.
Friday’s bombing occurred just as US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to meet with Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine.
The explosion appeared to be similar to previous attacks on Russians related to Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.
Kyiv had claimed responsibility in some cases, but had not responded to Friday’s attack.
These include the August 2022 car bombing of nationalist Darya Dugina and the April 2023 explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe that killed high-profile military correspondent Maxim Fomin, also known as Vladlen Tatarsky. A Russian woman, who claimed she delivered the figurine on behalf of a contact in Ukraine, was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison.
In December 2023, Illia Kiva, a former pro-Moscow Ukrainian lawmaker who fled to Russia, was shot and killed near Moscow. The Ukrainian military intelligence applauded the killing and warned that other “traitors of Ukraine” would face the same fate.
Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian military’s chemical weapons unit, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter in Moscow in December. Ukrainian security sources told CBS News that Kirillov was killed in a special operation by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).
Following Kirillov’s assassination, Putin made a rare admission of security agency failures, saying, “We must not allow such very serious blunders to happen.”