Additional Coverage:
Moscow Rocked by Deadly Explosion, Raising Security Concerns
Moscow experienced a tragic incident on Wednesday when an explosion claimed the lives of three individuals, including two police officers. The blast occurred just days after a high-ranking general was killed by a car bomb in the same vicinity, raising significant security concerns within the Russian capital.
According to Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for the Investigative Committee, two traffic police officers were approaching a “suspicious individual” when an explosive device detonated. Both officers, along with a bystander, succumbed to their injuries. Investigators and forensic experts are currently on scene, meticulously examining the area for clues.
This latest incident took place in the same southern Moscow district where Lt. Gen.
Fanil Sarvarov was assassinated Monday morning. Sarvarov, who headed the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, died when an explosive device detonated beneath his vehicle.
Investigators have suggested Ukraine may be responsible for Sarvarov’s death, which marks the third such killing of a senior military officer in just over a year.
Previous attacks include the December 17, 2024, assassination of Lt. Gen.
Igor Kirillov, chief of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, who was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died in the attack, for which Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility.
An Uzbek man was subsequently arrested and charged. In April, Lt.
Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was also killed by an explosive device in his car near his apartment, leading to a swift arrest of a suspected perpetrator.
Since the deployment of Russian troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have attributed several assassinations of military officers and public figures within Russia to Ukraine, with Ukraine claiming responsibility for some of these incidents.