A former spokesman for a former pro-Russian prime minister of Ukraine was injured by a car bomb in Moscow on Friday, Russian media reported.
The Kommersant newspaper reported that Sergei Zavorotniy, a former top aide to Mykola Azarov who served as Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014, was hospitalized after a car exploded on a street in Chertanovo, a district of the Russian capital.
This is the second car bomb attack in Russia in several consecutive days. Moscow has blamed Ukraine for previous assassinations of senior military officials and people linked to the Russian war effort.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Friday.
Ren TV and Telegram channel 112 both reported that Zavorotniy lost his left arm in the attack and was hospitalized with a concussion, rib fractures and other injuries.
The Baza Telegram channel published a photograph of a black four-door car with a broken windshield, doors and front bumper on a city street.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which deals with serious crimes, said it had opened an investigation into the incident.
Zavorotniy’s former boss, Azarov, fled to Russia in 2014, when Ukraine’s Maidan revolution toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych after Yanukovych broke a promise to develop closer ties with the European Union.
Azarov told Russian news agency TASS on Friday that he had no information about the car bomb except that Zavorotniy had survived.
The explosion is the latest in a series of apparent assassination attempts in Russia. On Thursday, a Russian soldier was killed in a car bomb explosion in St. Petersburg.
Ukrainian sources have claimed responsibility in some cases, while denying others. Kyiv has not commented on Thursday’s attack.
Gn world
