A car exploded late Friday morning in the courtyard of an apartment building in Balashikha, a town just outside Moscow. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the blast killed General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian military’s General Staff.
The explosion occurred in the town’s Aviatorov neighborhood, which was originally planned as a residential area for retired military personnel, according to the outlet Agentstvo. Local residents told the site Msk1 that many of their neighbors are either active-duty or former military members.
Telegram channels Baza and 112 reported that the blast took place around 10:40 a.m., when a Volkswagen parked near one of the buildings exploded. Footage from the scene shows shattered windows in nearby apartments and a second vehicle damaged by the blast. The Volkswagen caught fire but was quickly extinguished by emergency services.
Initial reports said that one person had died. However, Kommersant later suggested there may have been two victims: the driver and a passenger who had just gotten out of the car. Other sources have not confirmed the second death.
Telegram channels say the car exploded just as General Moskalik was exiting the building. At first, reports suggested the victim was a bystander and that the blast may have been caused by a gas cylinder. However, that version was dropped after experts found fragments of an improvised explosive device and shrapnel, according to 112. The Telegram channel Shot reports that investigators now believe the car was deliberately parked outside the general’s building. According to Mash, the bomb was placed near the vehicle’s gas equipment and detonated remotely.
Izvestia and 112 published footage of the moment of the explosion, which appears to show the car blowing up just as someone approached it.
The Russian authorities have opened a criminal case on charges of murder and explosives trafficking.
Moskalik is not the first Russian military figure to be killed in the Moscow region in recent months. In mid-December 2024, a car exploded in central Moscow, killing Russian chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov. Less than two months later, an IED in a Moscow apartment building killed Armen Sarkisyan, head of the Russian paramilitary Arbat Battalion.
