A Russian general was killed early Monday after a bomb detonated beneath his car in southern Moscow, Russian law enforcement officials have announced. The hugely provocative act, which was likely either carried out by Ukrainian operatives or allied Western intelligence (or both) marks the third killing of a high-ranking defense official over the past year.
The slain senior officer has been identified Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, who headed the General Staff’s operational training department. He initially survived the blast but soon after succumbed to his injuries.
Investigators released video showing a severely damaged white Kia Sorento in a residential parking area near apartment blocks in Moscow’s Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district. The doors were shown to be blown out and debris was strewn everywhere.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later indicated that President Vladimir Putin was informed of Sarvarov’s death immediately.
BBC describes that Sarvarov “previously took part 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 2015-2016.”
As for the investigation at the scene, The Moscow Times cites officials who say they are “assessing whether Ukrainian intelligence services could be linked to the incident. Ukraine, which has previously acknowledged carrying out similar attacks inside Russia, did not immediately comment.”
This adds to a growing list of high profile assassinations related to the Ukraine war. To review:
—Darya Dugina was killed in a car bombing in 2022 which was likely meant for her father, prominent political thinker and often dubbed “Putin ally” Aleksandr Dugin.
—Gen Igor Kirillov died in December 2024 outside of his residence when a bomb planted in a nearby scooter detonated.
—Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, who served as deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed in a car bomb attack last April. A “homemade” explosive device detonated under his Volkswagen Golf in a residential neighborhood.
Throughout the course of the war there’s been a string of these high profile assassinations on Russian soil involving car and even cafe bombs.
Footage from the scene of Monday’s car bomb attack, which marks the third such covert hit of a top Russian officer in a year:
Russia’s Investigative Committee says a car bomb in Moscow has killed a Russian general https://t.co/kajpAQoa2L pic.twitter.com/XmWXf1H8qq
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 22, 2025
The cafe bombing had happened in April 2023, and killed prominent pro-Kremlin blogger and war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky. The blast at a St. Petersburg cafe during a close-quarters speaking event wounded some two dozen bystanders, six of them critically.
America’s CIA or Britain’s MI6 has long been suspected of being involved in these targeted killings, or at least assisting in such brazen Ukrainian-linked operations, but ultimately little has been uncovered or proven in terms of a potential Western hidden hand in this ongoing ‘dirty war’.
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