A wave of sophisticated targeted killings is gutting the ranks of Russia’s military and political elite. The latest victim, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed in a car bombing in the heart of Moscow on Monday, December 22, marking the eighth high-profile “liquidation” of a member of Putin’s war machinery within the last 18 months.
Russian investigators have launched an investigation into what is being viewed as a massive security breach in the capital. While Ukraine has an official policy of “no comment” regarding operations on Russian soil, the precision of these hits suggests a deep-rooted intelligence network operating behind enemy lines.
NEW Attack: Lt.-Gen. Fanil Sarvarov (Dec 22)
Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, Head of the Operational Training Department of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed instantly when an IED planted under his white Kia Sorento detonated in a Moscow parking lot.
Impact: He was said to be one of the key strategists of the troops currently deployed in Ukraine. His death is a great loss to the Russian military’s readiness for operation.
The ‘Hit List’: 7 Other Figures Eliminated By ‘Targeted
Apart from Sarvarov, there are eight other influential individuals, including military commanders as well as propagandists, whom the rebels
1. Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik (April)
The Deputy Head of the Main Operational Directorate was murdered in a car bomb attack close to Moscow. As someone with extensive experience within the Normandy Format negotiations, his death was seen by foreign intelligence officials as a “cleansing of the high command.”
2. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov (Dec)
A high-tech terrorist attack resulted in the death of the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops through a bomb placed in an electric scooter that was blasted using a distant-controlled device in Moscow, as Ukraine had accused him of managing chemical attacks.
3. Valery Nikolaevich Trankovsky (Nov)
He was a Captain First Rank and the Chief of Staff of the 41st Missile Ship Brigade and was targeted in Sevastopol, Crimea. His car was blown-up, a successful operation according to the Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, who targeted a commander guilty of cruise missile attacks on civilians.
4. Andrei Korotkiy (Oct)
The security chief of the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was assassinated by a car bomb in Enerhodar. He was designated a “collaborator and spy” by the Ukrainian government for providing the FSB with the personal information of pro-Ukrainian workers at the plant.
5. Illia Kyva (Dec)
A Ukrainian ex-parliament member, who defected to support Putin, was killed by gunshot in Suponevo, near Moscow. Convicted in absentia for high treason, it was confirmed by the SBU as having been killed in the “special operation” against traitors.
6. Stanislav Rzhitsky (July)
A former commander of the submarine named Krasnodar was shot while on a jog in the city of Krasnodar. This assassination was carried out by assassins, who located the former commander’s position using the fitness app Strava. This former commander had been charged with firing missiles that hit and killed dozens of civilians in the city of Vinnytsia.
7. Vladlen Tatarsky (April)
The leading pro-war military blogger was killed in the St. Petersburg cafe when a bomb planted inside a statuette exploded. This was an attack on the center of the propaganda apparatus of the Kremlin administration.
8. Darya Dugina (Aug 20)
His daughter had been slain in a car bombing in the vicinity of Moscow, which American intelligence analysis would reveal had been perpetrated by hardline elements of the Ukrainian government, indicating that Putin’s inner circle did not feel invulnerable to the conflict.
Kremlin on High Alert: ‘A War of Shadows’
“The pattern of these attacks-a combination of car bombs, remote-controlled scooters, and electronic tracking-is consistent with the escalation of the conflict to the so-called War of Shadows,” reports the Sputnik News service.
“The pattern of these attacks-a combination of car bombs, remote-controlled scooters, and electronic tracking—is consistent with the escalation of the conflict to the so-called War of Shadows,” said Sputnik News, as cited by Business Standard.
