Former Ukrainian Adviser Critically Injured in Moscow Car Bombing after Fleeing to Russia

A former adviser to Ukraine’s ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov was seriously injured in a car bombing in Moscow on Friday. He had fled to Russia after Azarov’s resignation in 2014 and later became a pro-Kremlin commentator.

The explosion came a day after a Russian military officer was killed in a similar attack in St Petersburg. It followed a series of assassinations targeting Russian military figures and prominent supporters of the war in Ukraine, according to The Washington Post.

Russian officials said the car exploded while Sergei Zavorotny, 72, was driving. He was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Zavorotny, a former journalist at Komsomolskaya Pravda, served as an adviser to Azarov between 2010 and 2014. He subsequently moved to Russia after Azarov and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych were ousted. Both men also fled to Russia.

Yanukovych’s decision in late 2013 to abandon an association agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Moscow triggered Ukraine’s Maidan protests.

After moving to Russia, Zavorotny became known as a pro-Moscow commentator, repeatedly claiming that Western governments had orchestrated the Maidan revolution. A 2020 report by the US Senate Intelligence Committee also identified him as an officer in Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

Azarov told Russian state television that he was “shocked” by the attack. He accused Ukrainian intelligence services of targeting Zavorotny over his criticism of Ukraine, without providing evidence to support the allegation.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the attack.