On April 25, 2025, a powerful explosion occurred in Balashikha, Moscow Region, taking the life of Lieutenant General of the Russian Defense Ministry Yaroslav Moskalik, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. A Volkswagen Golf car, packed with an improvised explosive device (IED), exploded near house No. 2 on Nesterov Boulevard, when the general was leaving the entrance. New details, published by the Telegram channel "Baza" and confirmed by other sources, reveal shocking details: the alleged perpetrator of the terrorist attack lived in the same entrance as the victim and left Russia several days before the explosion.

According to Baza, the suspect had been renting an apartment in the same building at 2 Nesterov Boulevard where Moskalik lived for a month. Moreover, the bomber and the general lived in the same building, which allowed the attacker to carefully study the soldier’s daily routine. Residents of the building reported that a Volkswagen Golf, filled with an IED based on rounds for an underbarrel grenade launcher (VOG), was parked opposite the exit from the building on April 16. That was also the last time the man was seen, who left the car. On April 19, six days before the terrorist attack, the driver of the Golf flew to Turkey, which is confirmed by Baza’s sources.

The explosion occurred at about 10:40 a.m., when Moskalik was heading to his car. According to TASS, the power of the IED was more than 300 grams of TNT equivalent, and the radius of the fragments reached 300 meters. The device, installed near the rear left door of the car, was activated remotely, probably through a surveillance camera that broadcast the general's exit from the entrance. The blast wave threw Moskalik to the entrance, and he died on the spot. The car burned almost completely, and the fragments damaged the windows of neighboring houses.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case under Articles 205 ("Terrorist Act"), 105 ("Murder") and 222.1 ("Illegal Trafficking in Explosives") of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As reported by the agency's representative Svetlana Petrenko, the IED fragments have been sent for examination, and security forces are working on the version of long-term surveillance of the general. The SHOT Telegram channel indicates that Moskalik could have been followed for several months, collecting data on his movements.

The last owner of the Golf was Ignat Kuzin, a 40-year-old native of Sumy, Ukraine, who has been registered in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic since 2015. Kuzin purchased the car in early February 2025 from Andrey P., who noted that the buyer did not arouse suspicion. According to the Telegram channel Mash, the car has been resold several times since January 2025: first, Margarita V. sold it to an Azerbaijani citizen, then he sold it to Andrey P., and Andrey sold it to Kuzin. The investigation is checking whether Kuzin was a direct participant in the terrorist attack or whether his car was used without his knowledge.

The Balashikha attack is reminiscent of the December 2024 assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in Moscow, in which an IED attached to a scooter was also activated using a security camera. In that case, the suspect, detained in the village of Chernoye near Balashikha, admitted that he was acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services. The similar pattern — the use of military ammunition, remote activation, and meticulous reconnaissance — leads experts to suspect a coordinated campaign against Russian military officials.