Russian colonel reportedly killed in car explosion near St. Petersburg

A Russian serviceman was killed when his car exploded in Shushary, near St Petersburg, on 12 November, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee. The case matters because it is the second reported car bombing in the area in less than three months to kill a Russian military officer.

Fontanka reported that the victim was an Air Force colonel and that the explosion happened at about 7am on Kolpinskoye Highway, near a supermarket and petrol station. Investigators opened a criminal case on suspicion of murder and were examining the scene. In an earlier incident on 27 August, Major Sergei Sechkov was killed in a car explosion in Shushary and his wife was seriously injured.