Mystery Car Bomb Attack in Moscow Targeted Top Military Official: Reports

A top Russian military intelligence officer is reported to have been targeted in a car-bomb attack in Moscow.

Videos circulating on social media appear to show the moment an explosive device detonated in a Toyota Land Cruiser at a parking lot on Sinyavinskaya Street in Moscow.

Multiple Russian news outlets initially, including Russian newspaper Kommersant, reported that the vehicle was carrying 49-year-old Andrei Torgashov—an officer with Russia's Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU)—and his wife on Thursday morning, and that they were hospitalized in serious condition.

"Torgashov's legs were blown off," the Astra Telegram channel, a project run by independent Russian journalists, said, claiming that he holds the position of deputy head of a satellite communications center belonging to Russia's military unit 33790, which is based in the Moscow region.

But hours later, Kommersant said Torgashov had denied that he had been injured in a car explosion.

"Of course, this is a complete fake," he told Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti. "A complete fake. This explosion has nothing to do with me."

Kommersant said the victim "was someone with the same last name."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email.

Irina Volk, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, said the car was blown up after an "unidentified object" was detonated.

Prior to Torgashov's denial Kommersant reported that the explosive device used the equivalent of half a kilogram of TNT and suggested that it was a targeted attack, citing unnamed sources.

"Despite the fact that the 49-year-old major allegedly served in military intelligence and dealt with secure communications, his details were published online long before the assassination attempt. This could have helped the attackers choose their victim," the newspaper reported.

According to a source in law enforcement cited by RIA Novosti, local authorities are looking into the possibility that the blast was "an assassination attempt related to professional activity."

A case has been opened under Articles 30 and 105 of Russia's Criminal Code—attempted murder—but it may be reclassified as a terrorist attack, Kommersant reported.

Kommersant also said Russian authorities are considering the possible involvement of Ukraine's special services. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the explosion, according to Agentstvo, an independent Russian investigative site.

Maria Drutska, whose X (formerly Twitter) account states that she works in the Ukrainian foreign affairs sector, wrote on X: "Counting down until the Ukrainian special services are blamed... 3..2..1.."

"But they think no one will remember that in Russia, mysteriously, two people died within two days—a businessman and a government official linked to Timur Ivanov, the former deputy of ex-defense minister Sergei Shoigu, who was arrested in April on bribery charges," she wrote.

Drutska added: "Of course, the idea of internal purges won't occur to anyone, and it's easier to simply blame everything on Ukraine."

Newsweek has contacted Ukrainian authorities for comment by email.

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