Investigators in Russia are still trying to determine who bombed the colonel in the Moscow region
In Russia, security services have been unable to identify any suspects in the murder of Damir Davydov, an officer with the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) of the Ministry of Defense, whose car was blown up on June 9 in Balashikha.
Officially, the authorities have not yet revealed the identity of the victim, and Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that details cannot be disclosed due to the ongoing investigation. However, on Thursday, Davydov was buried in a private ceremony at a military cemetery near Borodino.
The last official statement from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation regarding this case appeared on the day the car was blown up and concerned only the opening of the case without specifying the article. The following day, the agency announced the detention of two minors in connection with an attempt to blow up the car of an employee of the Polyus Research Institute, part of the Rostec structure. Investigators checked their involvement in Davydov’s murder in Balashikha, but a Kommersant source confirmed that the detainees had no connection to this murder. In addition, on Thursday, the FSB reported that it had foiled a completely different assassination attempt on a Russian military officer, detaining a foreign national who had been living illegally in Spain for the past three years due to criminal prosecution in his home country.
The speed of this investigation differs significantly from most previous high-profile assassination attempts on high-ranking officials of the Russian Ministry of Defense in the Moscow region. In particular, following the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, head of the NBC Defense Forces, in December 2024, and Yaroslav Moskalyk, deputy head of the General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate, in April 2025, suspects were detained the very next day. The FSB reported the arrest of the suspect in the assassination attempt on Vladimir Alekseev, Deputy Chief of the General Staff’s Main Directorate, in February 2026 two days later, having tracked down the fugitive in Dubai. The only exceptions where information about the suspects never surfaced remain only the elimination of Fanil Sarvarov, head of the General Staff’s Operational Training Directorate, in December 2025, and GRU Colonel Nikita Klenkov in October 2024.
This is reported by the publication Agency.
On the morning of June 9, a BMW X3 exploded in Balashikha, near Moscow, killing the driver. The incident occurred in the Aviatorov neighborhood on Koldunova Street.
In the city of Balashikha, Moscow Region, a high-ranking military officer—Russian Army Colonel Damir Davydov—was killed when his own car was blown up. The occupier headed the department for the supply of missiles and artillery ammunition at the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
