Russian officer fatally shot near Moscow after returning from frontline: Report
A top Russian military officer has reportedly been assassinated in the Moscow Region days after returning from the Ukraine frontline.
The officer was shot dead in his car in what looks like an organized hit in a village, the TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, adding that he was killed at point-blank.
“The victim was the deputy chief of one of the military units. He returned home just a week ago,” TASS quoted its unnamed source as saying.
According to the report, at least three shots were fired through the side window of the traveling car, and the vehicle continued moving until it crashed into a house fence.
The press service of the Moscow Region Investigative Committee said a criminal case has been launched for murder and illegal arms trafficking in connection with the deadly incident, TASS added.
“A team of the most experienced investigators and forensic experts is currently at the scene. An examination, including an inspection of the victim’s car, is underway. Eyewitnesses are being questioned, and possible motives for the crime are being investigated,” the press service said.
According to preliminary findings, the assassination occurred at around 9:00 a.m. local time on a road leading to the village of Melenki, in the Moscow Region’s Solnechnogorsk District.
Law enforcement sources suspected that the killer had waited for the serviceman’s car before opening fire, local media reported.
Russian media identified the victim as 44-year-old Nikita Klenkov, adding that he was said to be a high-ranking officer in the GRU, which is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
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