In Moscow, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed in a car bombing, the Investigative Committee reported.
The security-services-linked Telegram channel Shot said that the preliminary cause of the explosion on Yasenevaya Street was an improvised explosive device. According to one version, it detonated several seconds after a Kia Sorento began moving. Baza reported that the vehicle managed to drive several meters before the blast. Shrapnel damaged at least seven nearby parked cars.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the 55-year-old Sarvarov took part in the Ossetian–Ingush conflict and the war in Chechnya; in 2015–2016, he participated in Russian military operations in Syria. According to the outlet Proekt, Sarvarov was also involved in the war against Ukraine.
A criminal case has been opened under articles covering murder committed in a generally dangerous manner and the illegal trafficking of explosive substances.
“The investigation is considering various versions. One of them is linked to the organization of the crime by Ukrainian special services,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
There has been no comment from the Ukrainian side regarding General Sarvarov’s death so far.
