Third Russian Lieutenant General killed in Moscow within a year
In the Yasenevo district of Moscow, a car explosion killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces.
An explosive device had been placed under the chassis of his Kia Sorento, detonating as soon as the vehicle started moving.
This marks the third lieutenant general killed in Russia’s capital within the past year, highlighting the increasing vulnerability of Russian military officials even deep in the rear.
Sarvarov was born in 1969 in Perm Region and graduated from the Kazan Higher Tank Command School. From the early 1990s, he fought in the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and both the First and Second Chechen Wars.
In 2015–2016, he participated in Russia’s military operation in Syria, which strengthened his influence within the security apparatus.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding Sarvarov the rank of lieutenant general in May of last year. Since 2016, he headed the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, a structure responsible for planning and organizing military exercises as well as overseeing the daily operations of military management bodies.
In 2018, Sarvarov was among the officers invited to a Kremlin reception with Putin, demonstrating his proximity to the top leadership.
Six months prior to this explosion, another high-ranking officer — Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff, Yaroslav Moskalyk — was killed in a car explosion in Moscow. Moskalyk had previously participated in negotiations with Ukraine in 2015, making him a notable figure in the military-political bloc.
In December of last year, Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops and also a lieutenant general, was killed in an assassination attempt in Moscow. Putin then called Kirillov’s killing a “serious failure” of law enforcement and intelligence services and publicly demanded an increase in security measures. The death of Moskalyk was not publicly commented on by Putin, who merely sent a funeral wreath.
Despite public statements from the Kremlin, the series of successful attacks on generals shows that no real corrective measures have been taken.
In recent months, other high-profile car explosions have been recorded in Moscow. On December 1, a Land Cruiser 200 Prado belonging to a 41-year-old Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, a specialist in quantum electronics working at Rostec’s research institute, exploded in New Moscow.
