LONDON — A car bomb killed a Russian general in Moscow early Monday morning, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was the head of the Operational Training Department of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, the committee reported. He died when “an explosive device installed under the bottom of a car was detonated on Moscow’s Yaseneva Street.”
An investigator works at the site where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed in a car bomb in Moscow, Russia, on December 22, 2025.
Russian Investigative Committee/via Reuters
A criminal case has been opened over the incident, according to the statement. Among the theories being investigated is “that related to the organization of the crime by the Ukrainian special services,” the committee said.
The committee released video from the explosion site, showing a visibly damaged white car in what appeared to be a residential area.
Sarvarov is the third high-ranking military officer killed since the end of last year.
In December 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces, was killed in an explosion along with his assistant as they left a residential building in Moscow.
The explosive device that killed Kirillov was attached to an electric scooter left near the building, investigators said.
And in April, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed by a car bomb in an eastern suburb of the capital.
ABC News’ Stukalova asked. and Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.
