Russian general killed in car blast just outside Moscow ahead of Witkoff-Putin meeting
CNN A senior Russian general has died in a car bombing in the Russian city of Balashikha on Friday agents say with news of the blast emerging just before US President Donald Trump s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow Witkoff is in the Russian capital for crunch talks on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine as Trump s self-imposed deadline of ending the war within the first days of his presidency nears The envoy was received by Putin at the Kremlin on Friday afternoon the Russian state news agency Tass revealed saying Witkoff has also met with senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev Dmitriev and Russian presidential aide and former ambassador to Washington Yuri Ushakov were part of the meeting with Putin Tass disclosed This is Witkoff s fourth trip to Russia since Trump came back into the office in January and the second one this month Russia s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained Moscow was ready to reach a deal on ending the war in Ukraine in an interview with CBS News on Thursday but added that there were still several specific points that needed to be fine-tuned Friday s highly anticipated meeting took place soon after the announcement that General Yaroslav Moskalik deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces had been killed in the explosion of a Volkswagen Golf in Balashikha which lies less than miles east of Moscow Russia s Investigative Committee verified Moskalik s death adding that the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing The attack appeared similar in nature to previous assassination of Russian personnel including that of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov a top Russian general who was accused of orchestrating the use of chemical weapons on the battlefields in Ukraine Kirillov who headed Russia s radiological biological and chemical protection forces was killed in December after a remotely operated bomb planted inside an electric scooter went off outside an apartment building in Moscow The influential Russian military blog Rybar announced Moskalik was not in the car when it exploded but was close to it after walking out of a nearby building CNN can not independently verify this assessment Little is known about Moskalik who held the rank of Lieutenant General Rybar described him as competent and demanding and stated he was not well liked because he was tough on his subordinates Russia s Investigative Committee disclosed it has opened a criminal probe into the explosion It added that an investigative unit including forensic experts and law enforcement officers had begun examining the scene Tass earlier stated that the explosive device was homemade Friday s communicated blast comes two days after a fire broke out at an underground car park in Moscow s business district following an explosion there
