A Russian general has died in a car bombing in Moscow, officials confirmed.
Russia’s Investigative Committee reported that Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, 56, was killed on Monday morning after an explosive device placed beneath his car detonated.
Sarvarov headed the armed forces’ operational training department, the committee said. It added that one theory under investigation is that the bomb may have been planted with the involvement of Ukrainian intelligence services. Ukraine has not commented.
The committee noted that Sarvarov died in hospital from his injuries and confirmed that it has launched an investigation into murder and illegal trafficking of explosives.
Investigators have been dispatched to the scene, located in a car park near an apartment complex in southern Moscow. Images from the site show a severely damaged white car with doors blown off, surrounded by other vehicles.
Russian media reported that Sarvarov had previously participated in combat operations during the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and the Chechen wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, and also led operations in Syria between 2015 and 2016.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was informed of Sarvarov’s death immediately.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several military officials and high-profile figures have been targeted in Moscow.
In 2022, Darya Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of a prominent nationalist figure and close Putin ally, was killed in a suspected car bombing.
Last April, Gen Yaroslav Moskalik died in a car bomb attack, while Gen Igor Kirillov was killed in December 2024 when a device concealed in a scooter was remotely detonated.
A Ukrainian source later told the BBC that Kirillov was killed by Ukraine’s security service, though this was not confirmed on the record. Ukraine, as a matter of policy, never officially admits or claims responsibility for such targeted attacks.
