Russian general blown up in Moscow

In a car explosion in Moscow on the morning of December 22, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the operational training department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, was killed.

According to the Investigative Committee, on the morning of December 22, an explosive device was detonated under the vehicle on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow.

As a result of the injuries sustained, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the operational training department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, died.

According to Svetlana Petrenko, the official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia, a criminal case has been opened by the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Moscow under signs of crimes provided for in paragraph “e” of part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder committed in a dangerous manner) and article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal trafficking in explosive substances).

The exact motive for the assassination is not specified. Investigators are considering several versions, one of which is related to the explosion being organized by Ukrainian special services.

Official Kyiv has not commented on the death of the Russian general.

According to media reports, a Kia Sorento car exploded on Yasenevaya Street in the Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district, which was parked near a residential building. The 56-year-old victim was trapped in the vehicle but was later rescued and hospitalized in serious condition. It was later revealed that this was General Fanil Sarvarov who had died.

In 2008, Fanil Sarvarov graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He participated in the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and the Chechen war. From 2015 to 2016, he took part in military operations in Syria. Since 2016, he had been the head of the operational training department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

This is not the first case in Russia where high-ranking military officials have been killed as a result of assassination attempts. In April 2025, the deputy head of the main operational department of the General Staff, Yaroslav Moskalyk, was killed in a car explosion in Balashikha, near Moscow. He was passing by a parked car when an explosive device went off inside. Moskalyk participated in negotiations with Ukraine in 2015. The perpetrator was detained the next day and was identified as an “agent of the Ukrainian special services.”

In December 2024, under similar circumstances, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the troops for radiation, chemical, and biological protection (RCBP), was killed in southeastern Moscow. A bomb was attached to the handle of an electric scooter that was standing by the door from which Kirillov was exiting. A citizen of Uzbekistan was detained on suspicion of murdering Kirillov, who, according to the Investigative Committee, allegedly acted on the orders of Ukrainian special services.