A car bomb in Moscow has critically injured an adviser to Ukraine’s former prime minister, one day after a bombing in St Petersburg killed a military serviceman. Russia’s Investigative Committee said the Friday blast hit a vehicle driven by Sergei Zavorotnyi, who had previously advised Mykola Azarov.
The Moscow explosion is the latest in a string of bombings and shootings aimed at people involved in the fighting in Ukraine. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for these attacks. The committee has not named any suspects while its criminal inquiry continues.
Former Azarov adviser wounded in Moscow blast
Zavorotnyi, 72, worked as a journalist for the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda before becoming Azarov’s adviser. He wrote a book about the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych and ran an online outlet that criticised Ukrainian authorities. Russia’s REN TV reported that he lost his left arm, suffered several other injuries and was in a coma after the explosion.
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Azarov, who also lives in Russia, served as prime minister under Yanukovych, a Moscow-friendly president who was forced from office by protesters and fled to Russia in February 2014. Speaking to state-run TV, Azarov said he was “shocked” by the attack. He believes his former adviser was targeted for criticising the Ukrainian government.
Correspondent Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said an explosive device was reportedly planted under the car and detonated remotely as Zavorotnyi drove on Friday. She quoted the committee as saying: “The investigative committee has already launched a criminal case into this explosion.”
St Petersburg bomb kills serviceman a day earlier
On Thursday, a military serviceman died when a bomb in his vehicle went off in St Petersburg, according to the Investigative Committee. The committee did not identify the victim or say who might be behind the attack. The Fontanka news outlet said the victim was a colonel, while other Russian online media described him as a senior air force officer.
Shapovalova said preliminary reports pointed to a military serviceman rather than a colonel of the Russian Air Force. She added that, like the Moscow victim, he was driving when the bomb detonated. She also said that, in Russia, the attacks are widely considered to be orchestrated by the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on either bombing.
