MOSCOW: Russia detained a man suspected of killing a Russian general in a car blast outside Moscow on Ukraine’s orders, the FSB secret service said on Saturday.

Moscow had previously accused Kyiv of being behind the blast on Friday which killed senior Russian general Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational directorate of the military’s General Staff.

“Ukrainian special services agent Ignat Kuzin, born in 1983, a resident of Ukraine, who planted explosives in a Volkswagen Golf in the city of Balashikha in the Moscow region, killing Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, was detained,” the FSB said in a statement.

According to the FSB, Kuzin had rigged the car with a homemade explosive device, which he took from a Ukrainian special service stash in the Moscow region, and the bomb was then detonated remotely from Ukraine.

The suspect, who might be facing a life sentence on terrorism charges, is now being questioned by the officers, Russia’s investigative committee said.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2025