A bomb that killed a soldier in a remote Russian town was likely targeted at a notorious Russian commander known as the Butcher of Butya, Russian and Ukrainian media and military bloggers said.
One person was killed and several others injured in a bombing in the far eastern Khabarovsk region on Tuesday, Russian authorities said.
Russian media and military bloggers reported that the slain was a soldier with the rank of lieutenant colonel, adding that the attack took place inside a closed barracks.
Prominent Russian military blogger VChK-OGPU said the real target was Major General Azatbek Omurbekov, who was responsible for some of the worst massacres of civilians committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Omurbekov was in charge of the 64th Independent Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, which operated in the Kiev region during the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The unit was named as war criminals by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense after bodies of murdered civilians and mass graves were discovered after Russian forces withdrew from the area.
Shortly after the announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the brigade an honorary title.
The entire unit and Omurbekov personally were subsequently sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and about a dozen other Ukrainian allies for their role in “grave human rights violations” in Ukraine.
A Khabarovsk court on Thursday remanded three people involved in the bombing for allegedly “destabilizing government institutions,” one of whom was absent.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
If confirmed, Omurbekov would be just another senior target for Russian military and security services.
A Russian general who is deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence service was shot and seriously injured in Moscow in February, and two others were killed in car bombings in Moscow (one in December and the other in April). Russian officials blamed Ukraine. Kyiv has not commented.
