Car blast kills top Russian general near Moscow
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Moscow: A top Russian general was killed in a car bomb blast near Moscow on Friday, with the Foreign Ministry describing it as a terrorist act, according to a media report, PTI reported.
Deputy director of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defence, Lt. General Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed when an improvised explosive device went off, Vesti FM radio cited the Investigative Committee as saying.
"Fragments of the device were found at the site and have been sent for examination," Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Peternko said.
Moskalik, 59, represented the Defence Ministry in various negotiations.
It was not immediately confirmed whether his assassination was linked to US Envoy Steve Whitkoff's talks with the Kremlin later on Friday over Ukraine negotiations.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the general's killing as a "terrorist act".
"The main question is how to stop the war in the centre of Europe, the world. We see so many victims every day. Even today, a Russian soldier was killed in a terrorist attack in Moscow," Zakharova was quoted as saying by TASS.
Several Russian military officials involved in the Ukraine campaign have been killed near their homes, hundreds of kilometres away from the battlefield, by alleged agents of Ukrainian Intelligence “SBU.”