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Gbeminiyi Ogunleye
2 months ago
Overview
Putin Defense General Moskalik Killed In Car Bomb Explosion In Moscow (Photos)
A Russian general has been killed after a car exploded near his home in Moscow in what officials suspect may have been a targeted attack.
General Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, a senior figure in Russia’s Defence Ministry, was reportedly walking past the parked car when it detonated, throwing him “several metres” through the air, according to initial reports.
Images from the scene show extensive damage and suspected shrapnel, with authorities believing an improvised explosive device (IED) was behind the blast.
Moskalik served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and represented the Russian military during talks with Ukraine in Paris in 2015.
The explosion occurred just days after three other blasts shook Moscow, raising concerns of rising unrest within the capital.
The blast also caused a fire, with thick black smoke seen rising over the city skyline just 15 minutes from the Kremlin.
Emergency services told local Russian media outlet SHOT: “An explosion occurred shortly before the fire broke out,” adding that the flames quickly spread to nearby construction materials.
Investigators have not ruled out sabotage or terrorism as potential causes of the explosion, as tensions remain high amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The attack echoes the 2022 car bombing that killed Darya ‘Dasha’ Dugina, daughter of a key Vladimir Putin ally, when a suspected explosive device detonated inside her Toyota Land Cruiser.
At the time, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Andrei Krasnov, a friend of the family, saying the car belonged to her father, and that “he was probably being targeted.”.
Her father, Aleksandr Dugin, a nationalist philosopher often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” has long been a controversial figure, and his appearance and influence have drawn comparisons to the mystic Grigori Rasputin.
