A senior Russian military commander, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed on Monday when an explosive device detonated beneath his vehicle in Moscow. This incident marks the third assassination of a high-ranking Russian military official within the past year, raising serious concerns about security vulnerabilities within Russia’s defense establishment.
Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, confirmed that General Sarvarov, who headed the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, succumbed to injuries sustained in the blast. Petrenko stated that multiple investigative avenues are being pursued, with Ukrainian intelligence services representing a primary line of inquiry regarding potential orchestration of the attack.
This pattern of targeted killings began exactly one year prior on December 17, 2024, when Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was assassinated by a bomb concealed on an electric scooter outside his residence. Ukraine’s security service publicly claimed responsibility for that operation, which also resulted in the death of Kirillov’s assistant. Russian authorities subsequently apprehended and charged an Uzbek national with carrying out the attack on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence.
President Vladimir Putin characterized Kirillov’s assassination as a ‘major blunder’ by Russian security agencies, urging enhanced operational efficiency. Despite this directive, another senior officer, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik—a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff—was killed in April by an explosive device planted in his vehicle near his Moscow-area apartment. Russian law enforcement made a prompt arrest of a suspected perpetrator in that case.
Moscow has consistently attributed numerous bombings and attacks on Russian soil to Ukrainian operatives, alleging a coordinated campaign targeting military leadership. These incidents highlight escalating covert operations within Russian territory amid the ongoing conflict between the two nations.