In another car bombing, another Russian general has been killed in Moscow. Multiple Russian high officials have lost their lives in these kinds of bombings since the Russia-Ukraine war started. Officials have pointed fingers towards Ukraine for this latest apparent assassination of a senior military officer.
On Monday (December 22) morning, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, who was in charge of the armed forces’ operational training department, died in a blast. The explosion was caused by an explosive device installed under the chassis of a car, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.
According to the committee, “Investigators are pursuing various motives for the murder. One of the theories is that the crime was organized by Ukrainian special services.”
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin was “immediately informed” of the death of Sarvarov via special services channels.
This is the latest attempt of Ukraine to fight a parallel unconventional war with Russia, as they are lacking men on the battlefield. Since the Russia-Ukraine war (2022), multiple prominent Russians have been killed by explosive devices or shot dead in Moscow in attacks blamed on the Ukrainian security services.
Russian media released a video on December 22, showing a badly damaged car parked in a middle-class neighbourhood of Moscow. The deceased general was running the training department for nine years. According to state news agency TASS, 56-year-old had previously “carried out the tasks of organizing and conducting an operation in Syria,” when Russian forces were backing the Assad regime.
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Not A Isolated Incident
This year in February, the founder of a pro-Russian militia group, Armen Sarkisyan was killed in a similar bombing. The Ukrainian side has described him as a “criminal mastermind. ”
Just a year ago, a general in charge of the Russian military’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces, named Igor Kirillov, was killed in an explosion caused by an explosive device planted on a scooter. The incident happened just at the entrance of the residential building. Ukraine swiftly claimed responsibility for that assassination.
Several prominent political figures have also died, including a leading figure in Russia’s nationalist movement, Darya Dugina, in 2022. An influential pro-war blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a cafe bombing in St Petersburg in April 2023.
Ukraine is lacking resources and men on the battlefield with Russia. The US is no longer interested in funding or giving its weapons to Ukraine, knowing the war is going nowhere. European allies are also not capable of helping Ukraine in a war with Russia. Hence, Ukraine looks fearful and desperate. The US is putting all its effort into ending the war, and the US envoys are talking to both sides almost every week to end the war. However, Ukraine under Zelensky is trying to destroy these peace efforts by doing all these covert operations.