Russian general killed by bomb under his car in Moscow
[December 22, 2025]
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian general was killed Monday morning after
an explosive device detonated underneath his car in Moscow, and
investigators said Ukraine could be behind the attack, the third such
killing of a senior military officer in a year.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of
the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff, died from his injuries, said
Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative
Committee, the nation's top criminal investigation agency. |
This image taken from video provided by Investigative Committee of
Moscow on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, shows the scene where Lt. Gen. Fanil
Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian
Armed Forces General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed
under his car in Moscow. (Investigative Committee of Moscow via AP) |
|
“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding
the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by
Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir
Putin had been immediately informed about Sarvarov's killing.
The Defense Ministry said that Sarvarov had previously fought in
Chechnya and taken part in Moscow's military campaign in Syria.
Just over a year ago, on Dec. 17, 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov,
the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical
protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric
scooter outside 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 Kirillov’s killing as
a “major blunder” by Russia’s security agencies, noting they
should learn from it and improve their efficiency.
But in April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen.
Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational
department in the General Staff, was killed by an explosive
device placed in his car parked near to his apartment building
just outside Moscow. A suspected perpetrator was quickly
arrested.
Moscow also has blamed Ukraine for several bombings and other
attacks in Russia.
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