FSB and Russian military clash over protecting generals, sources say

For the second time in just over a year, a Russian military figure was killed in an explosion in the Moscow suburb of Balashikha.

According to the independent Russian publication The Insider, on June 9, explosives placed under the BMW detonated when the driver started to leave the parking lot. It was stated in the press that the person killed was Lieutenant General Damir Davydov, an official of the Russian Ministry of Defense responsible for providing missile and artillery ammunition to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.

Its location was remarkable. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the explosion occurred about 350 meters away from where Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, was killed in a car bomb in April 2025.

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Months before Moskalik’s death, another senior Russian officer was assassinated in Moscow.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, was killed when a bomb hidden inside an electric scooter exploded in front of an apartment building. A source from the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, told Reuters that the operation was carried out by that agency.

The attacks are part of a broader pattern of assassinations and assassination attempts targeting senior Russian military figures; The campaign is now exposing tensions within Putin’s own security system, a European intelligence source said.

Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, senior Russian military figures have been killed in missile strikes, drone strikes, car bombings, crashes and front-line clashes; This is increasing internal tensions between Russia’s military and the FSB, Russia’s powerful internal security service and successor to the Soviet KGB, according to a European intelligence source.

“There are internal frictions among Russian security agencies,” a European intelligence source told Fox News Digital. “The Russian military wants the FSB to guarantee physical protection of Russian generals, but the FSB is opposed to taking responsibility for the army.”

According to many sources, the dispute reflects a deeper rivalry within Russian President Vladimir Putin’s system, where the security services have long enjoyed a privileged position over the armed forces.

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“This dates back to Soviet times,” the European intelligence source said. “The security services don’t like the military, and the military doesn’t like the security services.”

According to European intelligence source and Russian opposition figure Maxim Katz, the real tension is within Putin’s own system: While the war increases the importance of the army on the battlefield, the political establishment in Moscow still sees the generals as a potential threat.

The result is a paradox for the Kremlin. Russia needs its military commanders to wage war, but the security services that dominate Putin’s system appear reluctant to take on the responsibility of protecting them.

The damaged Kia Sorento is located at the location where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the army operational training department of the Russian General Staff, was killed on December 22, 2025, when a car bomb exploded in Moscow. (Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters)

According to independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, at least 15 Russian generals have been confirmed killed since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Among the dead are five lieutenant generals, seven major generals and three former generals.

Some died closer to the battlefield, far from Moscow.

Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, was killed in July 2023 in a Storm Shadow missile attack on Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Berdiansk. Major General Sergei Goryachev, chief of staff of the 35th Combined Arms Army, was killed during his counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine in June 2023. Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of the 14th Corps, was killed near Krynky in southern Ukraine in November 2023.

Others were shot inside Russia or in Russian-controlled areas.

Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko, a senior Russian air force commander, died in a military transport plane crash over occupied Crimea in March 2026. Retired Major General Kanamat Botashev, flying on behalf of the Wagner Group, was killed in May 2022 after his Su-25 was shot down in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

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Igor Kirillov was killed when an explosive hidden inside a scooter exploded in front of a building in Moscow on December 17, 2024, authorities said. (AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

The losses began in the first weeks of the Ukrainian invasion, with the killings of Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of Russia’s 41st Combined Arms Army, and Major General Vladimir Frolov, deputy commander of the 8th Army.

Katz said the military has long been in a vulnerable position within Russia’s power structure.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Katz said, “In Russia, the FSB is the largest and most powerful security organization, and Putin himself comes from this system.” “The army, on the other hand, has always been seen as a threat by these people.”

Katz said the Kremlin has historically been afraid of popular military figures because the military is one of the few institutions that can challenge political power.

“You won’t find Russian military men in high-level government positions,” Katz said. “They have been afraid of the military since Stalin. Whenever a relatively well-known military figure appears, they deal with him in some way – legally, as with Prigozhin, or with other generals. There is no such thing as a popular general in Russia.”

Katz argued that Putin’s system keeps the military politically weak even in times of war when the military is expected to gain status.

“The military is not involved in the decision-making process,” Katz said. “It’s funded now, but everything goes to war. The generals are rich, but not like ministers or FSB people. They are the poorest among the elite.”

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Flowers placed on a table in front of a billboard show the murder of Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov, deputy chief of the Russian Navy, who was recently killed in the Kursk region during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to local officials, at an exhibition of portraits of elite Russian soldiers in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, July 3, 2025. (Tatiana Meel/Reuters)

This dynamic helps explain why Russian generals might not want the FSB to be responsible for protecting them, Katz said.

“For them, the FSB is a much greater threat than the Ukrainian army,” Katz said. “The Ukrainian army kills a general every once in a while. The FSB imprisons generals much faster.”

The European intelligence source said the killings were significant not only because of operational losses but also because of the psychological impact within the Russian military.

“Putin is aware that losing leading Russian generals could affect the already low morale in the Russian army,” the source said.

The apparent compromise, according to the European intelligence source, was to shift responsibility away from the FSB.

“The FSB did not want to deal with military protection, so the security service of the Russian presidential administration would deal with these generals,” the source said.

Katz said domestic pressure on Putin could also conflict with Russia’s parliamentary elections in September; It’s a moment he believes Western observers have largely ignored.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused of ordering numerous assassinations of dissidents and defectors. ( )

He said the vote would not be free and the Kremlin was expected to manipulate the results.

But he argued that if public support for Putin’s United Russia party falls sharply, it may become difficult for the regime to make official results seem credible.

“Everyone already knows what results will be announced,” Katz said. “The question is, will anyone believe these results?”

Putin’s system has long depended not only on control but also on the perception that the Kremlin still has broad public support, Katz said.

“Putin has never made a decision in a situation where he did not have a majority,” Katz said. “His legitimacy is based on everyone believing he has majority support. When everyone believes he doesn’t have majority and is just drawing conclusions and not just cheating a bit, that’s a different story.”

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A portrait of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last week two months after launching his brief rebellion, was painted in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. It stands on the flowers on the grave at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in the city of St. Petersburg. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

He compared the potential challenge to authoritarian systems forced to move from managed popularity to overt oppression.

“Putin cannot lose like Orban,” Katz said. “But if everyone in Russia knew that everyone else voted against him and he drew the results in his favor, that would be a new situation. He’s never been in this situation before.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the governments of Russia and Ukraine for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.