Assassination of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov Near Kremlin Raises Tensions
Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the General Staff's operational training directorate, was killed by a car bomb outside a residential block about 10 miles from the Kremlin. Sarvarov's role involved preparing forces for future deployment, and he previously served in Chechnya and Syria. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Moscow suspects Kyiv may have been behind it.
Sarvarov was the least senior Russian commander killed on Russian soil to date. The timing of the assassination is described as significant, following recent US-Russia peace talks in Miami, where Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Ukraine has used similar attacks to embarrass Moscow and bring the war closer to home, which could be Kyiv's way of undermining Moscow's narrative in negotiations and signaling to Washington that Moscow is not in total control.
It remains unclear why Sarvarov was targeted, though his rank and apparent vulnerability are cited as possible reasons. There is precedent for such attacks: last year Ukraine claimed responsibility for the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, whom Kyiv alleged ordered chemical weapons; President Putin called that attack a major blunder by the security services. Earlier attacks include one in April last year when Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed by a car bomb outside Moscow, and another attack two months before Sarvarov's death where a car bomb in Siberia killed a Russian commander accused of war crimes.
