Bombings in Russia kill a military officer and injure an adviser to Ukraine’s former prime minister

Detailed summary

A car bombing on Friday in Moscow injured an adviser to Ukraine's former prime minister in the second such attack in as many days and part of ...

MOSCOW (AP) — A car bombing on Friday in Moscow badly injured an adviser to Ukraine’s former prime minister in the second such attack in as many days and part of a series linked to the conflict with Russia’s neighbor.

The explosion struck a car driven by Sergei Zavorotnyi, who previously worked as an adviser to former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee. Zavorotnyi was hospitalized with injuries, the committee added.

Azarov served as prime minister under Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced from office by protesters and fled to Russia in February 2014.

Azarov, who also lives in Russia, told state TV that he believes his former adviser was targeted because of his criticism of of Ukrainian authorities.

Zavorotnyi. 72, had worked as a journalist for Russia’s daily Komsomolskaya Pravda before becoming Azarov’s adviser. He wroted a book about Yanukovych’s ouster and ran an online outlet critical of Ukrainian authorities.

Russia’s REN TV channel said he was seriously injured and in a coma after the explosion.

The U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence in a report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election identified Zavorotnyi as an officer with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

On Thursday, a military serviceman was killed in St. Petersburg by a bomb in his vehicle, according to the Investigative Committee. It didn’t identify the victim or say who could be behind the bombing.

The Fontanka news outlet said the victim was a colonel and a bomb in his car went off as he was driving. It claimed the bomb used for the attack had been flown over the border from Ukraine into Russia in a balloon and hidden before it was picked up and used in the attack.

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