A car bomb killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian General Staff’s army operational training directorate, in Moscow on Monday, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee. The agency said an explosive device had been placed under Sarvarov’s Kia Sorento in the city’s south and detonated.
A criminal case has been opened on charges of murder and the illegal trafficking of explosive devices. Investigators said they are considering several possible motives, including the theory that Ukrainian special services were involved.
News of the explosion first appeared on the Telegram channels Baza, Shot, and Mash, as well as in a report from TASS citing a source in the emergency services. According to those accounts, the blast occurred around 7:00 a.m. local time, shortly after the driver got into the car and drove a few meters.
According to the outlet Proekt, Sarvarov had previously taken part in the Ossetian–Ingush conflict, both Chechen wars, and Russia’s military operation in Syria, and later served in the war in Ukraine. Dozhd reported, citing leaked databases, that a 2013 Kia Sorento registered to Sarvarov matches the vehicle that exploded.
Shot reported that, according to preliminary findings, the blast was caused by a homemade explosive device.