Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy director of the main operational department at the General Staff of the Russian army, has been killed in a car explosion in the eastern suburbs of Moscow, in Balashikha, A2 CNN reports. Russia's Investigative Committee officially confirmed his death, noting that the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device packed with shells, placed in a Volkswagen Golf.
Moskalik has been an important figure in Russian military structures, even representing the Russian General Staff in talks with Ukraine in Paris in 2015. His murder marks one of the most high-profile assassinations of figures in Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, although such cases remain relatively rare in the Russian capital.
This is not the first time that military or pro-Kremlin figures have been targeted in Russian territory. In December last year, General Igor Kirillov, head of the Defense Against Radiation, Chemical and Biological Agents, was killed by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter outside his Moscow apartment. Also, a senior rocket scientist, Mikhail Shatsky, was found shot to death in a forest near the capital, while former pro-Russian Ukrainian MP Illya Kyva was killed in a park outside Moscow.
Although Ukrainian secret services rarely claim official responsibility for these attacks, they are widely believed to be involved, in an effort to weaken the Russian military and propaganda leadership within its territory. Moskalik's killing is likely to intensify tensions and fears for the security of the military elite in Russia. (A2 Televizion)
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