Russia files terrorism charges against suspect in car bomb killing of army officer

Investigators work the scene where Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Friday, April 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Russian investigators have filed terrorism charges against a Ukrainian citizen suspected of killing a senior Russian military officer near Moscow, Interfax news agency reported on Sunday (April 27, 2025).

The Kremlin has blamed Kyiv for Friday’s car bomb that killed 59-year-old Yaroslav Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures to be assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

Interfax, citing Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the suspect, Ignat Kuzin, had pleaded guilty to killing Moskalik and had said he was recruited by Ukraine’s security services.

Moskalik, who was deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of Russia’s General Staff, was killed on Friday in the town of Balashikha, hours before U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was due to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on ending the Ukraine war.

The Investigative Committee said Russian authorities were trying to identify others who might have been involved in the killing of Moskalik.

Russian war bloggers described Moskalik as a rising star. He had participated in several high-level Russian delegations that have met Western officials to try to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Ukraine.

He also dealt with Syria, presenting a report on military-technical cooperation in Africa and the Middle East at a security forum in Moscow in 2021.