A powerful car bomb ripped through a parked vehicle in Balashikha, a town east of Moscow, on Friday, killing Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, a senior figure in Russia’s military command. The explosion occurred near a residential building and has sparked a full-scale investigation into murder and explosives smuggling, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
General Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational directorate of the Russian military’s General Staff, was a key strategic figure with a prominent role in Moscow’s military operations. The Kremlin confirmed that President Vladimir Putin had promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general in 2021.
The blast, which investigators say was caused by an improvised explosive device packed with metal fragments, was caught on security camera footage and shows the moment the Volkswagen Golf was torn apart by the explosion. A person can be seen approaching the vehicle seconds before it detonates.
Images circulating on Russian social media show the gutted remains of the car engulfed in flames. Though the vehicle was not registered in Moskalik’s name, the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo, citing leaked data, confirmed the general resided in the area.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about the security of Russian officials, particularly those linked to the country’s military activities in Ukraine. The attack bears striking similarities to previous high-profile killings of Russian military and political figures, many of which have been linked to Ukraine’s security services.
While Kyiv has not commented on Moskalik’s death, it has previously acknowledged involvement in several similar operations. These include the August 2022 assassination of nationalist commentator Darya Dugina, the April 2023 bombing that killed pro war military blogger Maxim Fomin (known as Vladlen Tatarsky), and the December 2023 scooter bomb that killed Russian chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov. Ukrainian intelligence claimed responsibility for Kirillov’s death, describing it as a “special operation.”
Moskalik also played a diplomatic role as Russia’s military representative during the 2015 “Normandy format” talks on Ukraine, held amid rising tensions between Kyiv and Moscow-backed separatists.
Notably, Friday’s bombing came on the heels of a scheduled diplomatic visit by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who was set to meet President Putin in Moscow to discuss a U.S.-backed peace proposal for Ukraine.
In a rare expression of criticism following Kirillov’s killing last year, President Putin acknowledged lapses within Russia’s security apparatus. “We must not allow such very serious blunders to happen,” he said.
