A senior Russian general, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed in southern Moscow on Monday when a car bomb detonated beneath his vehicle, Russian authorities said.
The Investigative Committee of Russia confirmed it had launched a criminal investigation into Sarvarov’s death, treating it as a murder committed in a socially dangerous manner.
Sarvarov, head of the General Staff’s operational training directorate, was taken to hospital following the blast but succumbed to his injuries.
“The explosive device was activated on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow. Fanil Sarvarov has died of injuries sustained in the explosion,” said Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, according to state news agency TASS. Investigators are examining multiple possible motives, including the potential involvement of Ukrainian special forces.
The explosion occurred around 7 a.m. Moscow time (04:00 GMT) in a car park, completely destroying the white vehicle Sarvarov was driving. Forensic teams and investigators were deployed immediately to the scene.
Petrenko noted that the criminal case also covers the illegal trafficking of explosives under Article 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code. Authorities are continuing to probe the circumstances of the attack.
Ukraine has previously claimed responsibility for several high-profile killings inside Russia and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In December 2024, Kyiv said it killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, using a bomb hidden on an electric scooter. Earlier, a car bomb was reported to have killed Russian naval captain Valery Trankovsky, whom Ukraine accused of war crimes.
Other notable attacks include the shooting of Russian military officer Stanislav Rzhitsky in Krasnodar in July 2023, the bombing of military blogger Maxim Fomin (aka Vladlen Tatarsky) in Saint Petersburg in April 2023, and the car bomb killing of Daria Dugina, daughter of ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, in August 2022.
The killing of Sarvarov adds to a growing list of high-profile attacks targeting Russian military and political figures in recent years, highlighting ongoing security challenges in the country.
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