On Saturday, 1 August, a homemade bomb carried by an unidentified woman killed five people and injured at least 21 at Balzi Rossi, an upscale Italian restaurant in central Moscow, which is owned by one of the richest businessmen in the city.
The explosion appears to have targeted Colonel-General Aleksandr Chayko, the current commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS).
Putin 2020 Address Russian Federation Photo
The explosion took place just after 2000 hours on Saturday evening, Russian authorities said.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor in one of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era, wedding cake-style skyscrapers at Kudrinkskaya Square.
The venue was also reportedly closed for a private event that evening, believed to be a birthday gathering for Gen. Chayko.
Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said that an unidentified woman had tried to gain access to the restaurant and was carrying what she said was a gift for the VKS commander.
This gift turned out to be a homemade bomb, and the explosive mechanism detonated when a security guard tried to block her entry into the venue, according to the Russian state RIA news agency.
The woman carrying the device and the security guard were killed immediately and were the first two of five reported casualties. Three other persons were severely wounded and later reported to have succumbed to their injuries.
In addition to those killed, 21 persons received injuries of varying severity. Among the injured were the general’s daughter, Maria, age 25, with her husband, Danilo Peredriy, 27, among those who later died from wounds received in the blast.
Kremlin Speech by Putin. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
A Target Too Tempting to Pass Up
The bomb is reported to have been an improvised device with ball bearings reported to have been the main projectiles packed inside. “This tells you a couple of very probable scenarios for how and why this attempted killing of Chayko was carried out at this spot,” said an intelligence source who spoke with National Security Journal.
One expert who analyzed the situation thinks something bigger might have been in the works. “Chayko was one of – but not the only – target,” said a retired intelligence official who spoke with National Security Journal on the weekend. “Reports are that the venue was closed to the public and that the automobiles parked around this location were mostly those with the easy-to-spot black number plates that indicate that they are the official vehicles of high-ranking military and security services officials.”
“Whoever put this plan together probably had access to the guest list and knew that this was going to be a gathering of so many senior personages that this was literally a target too tempting to pass up,” he said. “This presented the opportunity to take out numerous people with one device and could have been the highest-profile assassination in decades.”
According to the Russian publication Kommersant, the still unidentified woman may not even have known what was in the package she was carrying, or she might have had second thoughts.
Russian publications report the explosion was so forceful that her body was recovered “in pieces” and that one of her hands was found 15 meters from the site of the blast.
Russian publications also speculate that the device may not have even been under her control and was detonated remotely.
This attack follows a series of high-profile and targeted assassinations in Moscow of senior military officers.
Despite Russia’s secret police organizations pledging to improve security around individuals who would be prime targets, the attacks have nonetheless continued.
Why Chayko Was Targeted
Chayko has a less-than-illustrious past connected to the war in Ukraine.
When the February 2022 invasion was launched, he was in charge of the Eastern Military District and the main commander on the ground in the now-infamous settlement of Bucha, not far from the capital, Kyiv.
The exact number of unarmed civilians killed in Bucha – some of them by summary execution – is not known, but a local memorial wall in the settlement lists 501 names.
Other, more comprehensive figures for civilians killed in the entire Bucha district exceed 1,700.
In March, the Council of the European Union imposed sanctions on nine individuals, including Chayko, all of whom stand accused of war crimes during Russia’s occupation of this part of the Kyiv Oblast.
Chayko’s role in these war crimes has been the cause of considerable speculation that Ukraine’s special operations forces or intelligence services may have had a hand in this event.
Thus far, Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the explosion or any role they might have played in it. In his regular video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented only on drone strikes that had been targeted at an oil refinery in the Saratov region and Wildberries warehouses in the Samara region.
The Moscow restaurant bombing was not mentioned.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
