Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed in a powerful car explosion on Friday in Balashikha, a city near Moscow, according to Russian state media agency TASS.
The blast, which occurred near building number 2 on Nesterova Boulevard, was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) loaded with submunitions and estimated to have the force of over 300 grams of TNT. Emergency teams, investigators, and law enforcement officials swiftly responded to the site, and a criminal case has been opened under charges of murder and illegal trafficking in explosives.
Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, had served as a key representative of the Russian Ministry of Defence in various negotiations. The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed the targeted nature of the attack and stated that bomb fragments are being sent for forensic examination.
This incident comes just months after a similar fatal explosion in December, where Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, and his aide were killed by a bomb planted in an electric scooter in southeastern Moscow.
Both attacks have raised concerns about a rising wave of high-profile targeted assassinations involving explosive devices in and around the Russian capital.