A senior general in the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff was killed in a car explosion east of Moscow on Friday, police investigators confirmed.
“According to preliminary information, the blast killed Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik,” a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement.
“Early reports indicate the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel,” the law enforcement agency said, adding that detectives and forensic experts were examining the scene of the blast in the Moscow suburb of Balashikha.
Police launched a murder investigation, as well as a probe into the illegal trafficking of explosives. Authorities did not say whether they had identified any suspects.
State media initially reported that a parked car exploded due to a gas leak. Security camera footage shared by pro-Kremlin outlets showed a powerful explosion near an apartment block as a pedestrian walked past the vehicle.
Moskalik, 59, served as the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate. The directorate is responsible for planning military operations and overseeing combat readiness.
The pro-Kremlin Telegram news channel Mash reported that his car had been resold at least three times since late January, with the most recent buyer identified as a 40-year-old native of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.
The Moscow Times could not independently verify Mash’s claims.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, multiple Russian military officials, pro-war figures, Ukrainian defectors and Kremlin-installed leaders in occupied Ukraine have been targeted in assassination plots.
In December, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed while walking out of a Moscow apartment building early in the morning after an explosive device attached to a nearby scooter went off.
At the time, Kirillov was the highest-ranking Russian military official to be assassinated since the full-scale invasion.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Moskalik’s rank as major general.
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