Newsletters
A car exploded in southern Moscow on Friday, seriously wounding Sergei Zavorotniy, a former spokesman for ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Russian media reported, a day after a car bomb killed a military officer in St. Petersburg.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal case and sent investigators to the scene on Kirovogradskaya Street in the Chertanovo district.
Law enforcement sources told RIA Novosti that Zavorotniy, a 72-year-old, was injured.
An improvised explosive device with about 300 grams of TNT equivalent detonated under the SUV, with a magnetic mine the likely cause, Kommersant reported. Investigators preliminarily link the attack to Ukrainian intelligence services, the newspaper said.
There was no comment from Kyiv.
The case is being investigated as attempted murder committed by a generally dangerous method but may be reclassified as a terrorist act, Kommersant said. Zavorotniy was hospitalized in serious condition after passersby gave first aid.
The Toyota Fortuner exploded about 200 meters after leaving a residential courtyard, the Shot channel reported, and the blast threw the driver onto the road, ASTRA reported. Part of his arm was torn off, and he suffered fractures and bruises but remained conscious, the Baza channel said.
Initial reports had cited gas equipment as a possible cause.
Zavorotniy was driving to relatives at a country house and had received no prior threats, according to people close to him.
Azarov told TASS he was clarifying the circumstances and that he himself was fine.
Zavorotniy, a journalist, political consultant, and history PhD, was a Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent in Latin America and deputy editor of Tribuna in the 1980s-90s before moving into political PR.
He headed the press service of the Rodina faction in Russia’s State Duma and served as Azarov’s spokesman. In 2018, he co-wrote a book on how Russia "lost Ukraine," written as notes of an Azarov adviser.
Azarov has lived in Russia since fleeing Ukraine during the 2014 protests.
The blast came a day after an officer, reportedly an air force colonel, was killed when a bomb exploded under his car in St. Petersburg’s Pushkinsky district. Kyiv has been accused of a string of killings of Russian military figures and others since 2022, claiming some and remaining silent on others, as the Moscow car bomb adds to the series.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
