Investigators say the possibility that the attack is linked to Ukrainian special forces is one line of inquiry.

A car bomb blast has killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow, investigators say.

Russia’s Investigative Committee reported on Monday that it had opened an investigation into the “murder” of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the training department within the general staff. Officials said the potential involvement of Ukrainian special forces is among the issues being investigated.

An explosive device detonated underneath Sarvarov’s car in the south of the Russian capital, the investigators responsible for examining serious crimes said. He died in hospital as a result of his injuries, they said.

Russian news outlets reported that the white vehicle exploded in a car park on Yasenevaya Street, with the driver inside, at approximately 7am Moscow time (04:00 GMT).

Images from the scene showed a badly damaged car. Officials said investigators and forensics teams were on site.

“An explosive device was activated on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the general staff’s operational training directorate, has died of injuries from the explosion,” Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.

Ukrainian involvement?

Petrenko said Moscow’s main investigative directorate had opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code, which covers murder committed in a socially dangerous manner, and Article 222.1, which relates to the illegal trafficking of explosives.

She said investigators were pursuing several possible motives for the killing.

“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of enquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.

Ukraine is believed to have carried out several high-profile killings inside Russia, and in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

Kyiv claimed responsibility for an attack in December 2024 that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building.

The previous month, Ukrainian sources said a car bomb had killed Valery Trankovsky, ‌a Russian naval captain whom Kyiv accused of war crimes for ordering missile strikes on civilian targets.

Russian military officer Stanislav Rzhitsky, who had commanded a submarine in the Black Sea and appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of alleged war criminals, was shot dead while out on a morning ‌run in the southern city of Krasnodar in July 2023.

In April 2023, Russian military blogger Maxim Fomin (better known as Vladlen Tatarsky) was killed when a statuette he was presented with exploded in a cafe in Saint Petersburg.

In August 2022, a car bomb killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

Military career

Sarvarov was born on March 11, 1969, in Gremyachinsk in Russia’s Perm region, according to TASS. He held senior command positions throughout his military career.

He took part in combat operations during the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and the Chechen wars of the 1990s. During 2015-16, he was involved in planning and executing military operations in Syria.

In 2016, he was appointed head of the general staff’s operational training directorate.