BALASHIKHA, Russia: An explosive device ripped through a parked car near Moscow on Friday killing a senior Russian general, investigators said, in an attack that resembled previous killings claimed by Ukraine.
Authorities named the victim as General-lieutenant Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational directorate of the military’s General Staff, which is in charge of army operations.
Kyiv had not commented on the attack, which bore the hallmarks of previous assassinations of military figures and high-profile backers of the Kremlin’s offensive over the last three years.
Ukraine has called some of them “legitimate targets” and sees the attacks as retribution for Moscow’s military campaign, which has resulted in tens of thousands of people killed.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder probe after a Volkswagen Golf blew up outside a block of flats in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow.
“Our military figure was killed as a result of a terrorist attack,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The general’s body lay on the ground close to the front door of a block of flats and a few meters from the charred remains of a white car whose rear section was torn away, footage from the scene posted by the Investigative Committee showed.
Several investigators were working at the scene.
Police had cordoned off the site on Friday, with ambulances surrounding the area, an AFP reporter saw.
A body lying on the ground could be seen from the upper floors of surrounding buildings.
Locals said they heard a loud blast at around 10:45 a.m. (0745 GMT).
“The explosion was very strong, it even gave me heart pain,” Lyudmila, a 50-year-old who lives nearby told AFP.
The killing appeared similar to previous attacks claimed by Kyiv on figures linked to Russia’s three-year offensive on the country.
Ukraine’s secret services said last December it was behind the assassination of the head of the Russian military’s chemical weapons department.
A remotely operated bomb attached to a scooter had exploded as he left an apartment block in Moscow.
Security camera footage posted by the Izvestia newspaper of Friday’s blast showed a massive explosion, sending fragments flying into the air. The blast happens just as someone can be seen walking toward the car.
The “blast was caused by the triggering of an improvised explosive device” packed with metal fragments designed to cause maximum harm, investigators said.
The Agentstvo investigative news site, citing leaked information, said Moskalik lived in Balashikha, but the Volkswagen was not registered to him.
Russian Telegram channels with links to law enforcement posted unconfirmed reports that the car had been purchased a few months ago by a man from the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
They wrote that it had been parked outside the block of flats for a few days and was equipped with a camera.
TASS reported that Moskalik was 59.
According to the Kremlin website, he had represented the Russian military at ceasefire talks with Ukraine in 2015 amid the conflict between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made Moskalik general-lieutenant in 2021.
The department where he is deputy chief was described as “a key link in planning operations in Ukraine,” by the independent Vazhniye Istorii outlet.
Russians linked to Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine had been targeted in attacks over the last three years.
They include the August 2022 car bombing of nationalist Darya Dugina and an explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April 2023 that killed high-profile military correspondent Maxim Fomin, known as Vladlen Tatarsky.
Kyiv has in some cases claimed responsibility or revelled in the attacks.
It has not commented on Friday’s attack.
After the December killing of Igor Kirillov, the military’s chemical weapons chief, Putin made a rare admission of failings by his powerful security agencies.
“We must not allow such very serious blunders to happen,” he said.
Russian general killed by car bomb near Moscow
https://arab.news/zapsq
Russian general killed by car bomb near Moscow
- Authorities named the victim as General-lieutenant Yaroslav Moskalik
- Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder probe after a Volkswagen Golf blew up
Reference to Trump’s impeachments is removed from the display of his Smithsonian photo portrait
- For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s photo portrait display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document US history.
The wall text, which summarized Trump’s first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum’s “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.
The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
Trump’s original “portrait label,” as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump’s Supreme Court nominations and his administration’s development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”
Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump’s “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents’ painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump’s display.
Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.
Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.
The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok’s work.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.
And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”
Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents US history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation’s development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.
In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery’s director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian’s governing board, but she ultimately resigned.
At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.
The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump’s two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden’s autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
