By Transportation Security Administration
A senior Russian military official has died after a car bomb exploded in Moscow, authorities have confirmed.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed on Monday morning when an explosive device planted beneath a vehicle detonated. Sarvarov, 56, headed the armed forces’ operational training department, the committee said in a statement.
Investigators said Sarvarov was taken to hospital with severe injuries but later succumbed to his wounds. A criminal case has been opened into murder and the illegal trafficking of explosives, the committee added.
One of the main theories being examined is the possible involvement of Ukrainian intelligence services in planting the bomb, according to investigators. Ukraine has not commented on the allegation and, as a matter of policy, does not officially confirm or deny responsibility for targeted attacks.
The explosion occurred in a car park near an apartment building in the southern part of the Russian capital. Investigative teams and forensic experts were dispatched to the scene shortly after the blast.
Images circulating from the area show a white car heavily damaged by the explosion, with its doors blown off, surrounded by other parked vehicles that also appear to have been affected by the blast.
Russian media reports say Sarvarov had a long military career, taking part in combat operations during the Ossetian-Ingush conflict as well as the Chechen wars in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was also involved in leading Russian military operations in Syria between 2015 and 2016.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin was informed of Sarvarov’s death immediately. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment further on the investigation while it remains ongoing.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several senior military figures and other high-profile individuals have been targeted in Moscow and elsewhere.
In 2022, Darya Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of a prominent nationalist ideologue and close ally of President Putin, was killed in what was widely believed to be a car bomb attack.
More recently, General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a similar bombing last April, while General Igor Kirillov died in December 2024 after an explosive device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely.
Following Kirillov’s death, a Ukrainian source told the BBC that Ukraine’s security service was responsible, although this was never officially confirmed. Ukraine has consistently maintained that it does not publicly acknowledge involvement in such operations.
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