Russian General Killed by Car Bomb in Moscow

A top Russian army officer was killed by a bomb placed underneath his car in Moscow on Dec. 22.

Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov’s demise was confirmed by Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko, who told Russian state news agency TASS on Monday morning.

“According to an investigation, on the morning of December 22, an explosive device planted under a car 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,” she said.

According to Petrenko, Moscow’s Main Investigative Directorate has opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code, which pertains to murder committed in a socially dangerous manner, and Article 222.1, which concerns the illegal trafficking of explosives.

She also said investigators are pursuing several theories in relation to the killing, saying that one is “that the crime was organized by the Ukrainian security agencies.”

Sarvarov, 56, was head of the Operational Training Directorate at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and served extensively in Moscow’s military during his career, being awarded the Order of Courage, the Suvorov Medal, and the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, first and second class, according to TASS.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was immediately informed of Sarvarov’s death.

Ukraine’s Spravdi strategic communications center, which operates under the auspices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, noted Sarvarov’s death in a post on X.

“Russian Generals continue exploding back home in Russia, with another today in Moscow,” it read.

“Major General Fanil Sarvarov died this morning at 7 a.m. when his car exploded. Responsible for many atrocities, Sarvarov participated in operations during the invasion of Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, and Ukraine. He will no longer be doing any of these things.”

This is not the first time a member of the Russian top brass has been killed in a bomb attack.

A year ago, on Dec. 17, 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building in an attack that also claimed the life of his assistant.

Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Uzbek man was arrested and charged with killing Kirillov on behalf of the Ukrainian security service.

In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was also killed by a car bomb near his apartment building just outside Moscow.

Sarvarov’s death comes as American officials separately met with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Miami, Florida, in an effort to bring an end to the war.

U.S. negotiators met Ukrainian and European officials on Friday, and Russian officials on Saturday, in the Sunshine State.

U.S. special envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff said in an X post on Dec. 21 that over the past two days, “the Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev held productive and constructive meetings with the American delegation to advance President Trump’s peace plan on Ukraine.”

“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine. Russia highly values the efforts and support of the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and re-establish global security,” he said.

In an earlier post, Witkoff said that “Ukraine remains fully committed to achieving a just and sustainable peace,” and that their talks focused on “discussing timelines and the sequencing of next steps.”

Dmitriev took to X, posting a picture of himself in Miami on a balcony overlooking the ocean wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Next Time In Moscow,” the Russian double-headed eagle, and Putin’s signature.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Dec. 20 that the United States proposed a format for peace talks that would bring Ukrainian and Russian representatives back to the same table.

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the proposed trilateral meeting would take place at the level of Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov and his U.S. and Russian counterparts.

He did not provide more details about the proposal and expressed skepticism that such a meeting could add anything new, but added that he would support the U.S. proposal if a national security adviser-level meeting led to further exchanges or paved the way for trilateral leadership-level talks.