A view of the site of the car blast in which General Yaroslav Moskalik died in Balashikha, near Moscow, 25 April 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV
A man who was detained on suspicion of carrying out a car bombing that killed a high-ranking Russian general near Moscow on Friday has confessed to the attack, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced on Sunday.
Ignat Kuzin admitted planting the device that killed General Yaroslav Moskalik and was charged with terrorism and the illegal trafficking of explosives. “The suspect said that he was recruited by the Ukrainian secret services. He was promised $18,000 to carry out the crime,” the Investigative Committee said.
A court order for his formal detention for the duration of the investigation has been requested.
Moskalik, the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed when an improvised explosive device planted on the undercarriage of a car exploded at 10:40am on Friday morning.
Russia’s Federal Security Service reported on Saturday that it had detained Kuzin, whom it called an “agent of the Ukrainian secret services”. According to the investigation, Kuzin had placed the improvised explosive device under a car which he had himself bought and parked in the town of Balashikha, near Moscow, where the general lived.
Moskalik is thought to have been killed as he walked past the car, while the device was set off remotely from Ukraine, according to independent news outlet Meduza.
