Russian general killed by bomb under his car in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian general was killed after an explosive device detonated under his car in Moscow on Monday morning, and investigators said Ukraine may have been behind the attack. Third killing of a senior officer within a year.

Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, died from her injuries.

“Investigators are continuing multiple investigations into the murder. One of them is that the crime was planned by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.

Just over a year ago, on December 17, 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of the army’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was appointed to the post. was killed with a bomb hidden on an electric scooter in front of 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 the killing of Kirillov as a “big mistake” made by Russia’s security services and stated that they should learn from it and increase their efficiency.

But in April. Another senior Russian officer, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the General Staff’s main operations department, was killed by an explosive device planted in his parked car near his apartment building just outside Moscow. A suspected perpetrator was quickly arrested.

Moscow also blamed Ukraine Several bombings and other attacks in Russia.