A bomb that killed a soldier in a remote Russian town was likely targeting the notorious Russian commander “Butcher Butcher” of Russia, Russian and Ukrainian media and military bloggers said.
Russian authorities said a bomb attack in the far eastern Khabarovsk region on Tuesday killed one person and injured several others.
Russian media and military blogs reported that the deceased was a soldier with the rank of lieutenant colonel, adding that the attack took place in a closed military camp.
VChK-OGPU, a well-known Russian military blogger, said that the real target was Major General Azatyk Omurbekov, who was involved in some of the worst massacres of civilians by the Russian army in Ukraine.
Omurbekov was in charge of the 64th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, which fought in the Kiev region during the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
After Russian troops withdrew from the area, they discovered the bodies of murdered civilians and mass graves, and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry labeled the unit a war criminal.
Shortly after the news was announced, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the brigade an honorary title.
The entire unit and Omurbekov personally were later sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and more than a dozen other Ukraine allies for their involvement in “serious human rights violations” in Ukraine.
Three people involved in bombings and alleged “destabilization of government institutions” have been remanded in custody, one of them absent, a Khabarovsk court said on Thursday.
Ukraine has yet to comment on the attack.
If confirmed, Omurbekov would become the latest senior Russian military and security figure to be targeted.
A Russian general who served as deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence service was shot and seriously wounded in Moscow in February, and two other people were killed in car bombings in Moscow – one in December and one last April. Russian officials pointed the finger at Ukraine. Kyiv has yet to comment.
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