Car being evacuated after the explosion in Moscow. Photo: Maxim Shipenkov / EPA
The explosion of a car on Vvedenskogo Street in Moscow’s Koptevo district, which occurred on June 9, was classified by investigators as an attempted murder of an employee of “one of the research and production enterprises,” the Investigative Committee reported.
What else the agency reported. Law enforcement officers detained two teenagers believed to be involved in the attempted murder. According to the Investigative Committee and the FSB, an underage girl, acting on instructions from “handlers,” retrieved an explosive device from a hiding place and then passed it to an underage boy. He then placed the device and a GPS tracker on the car.
The Investigative Committee added that no one was injured and that the teenage suspects were detained right at the scene of the crime. A criminal case has been opened on charges of attempted murder and illegal trafficking of explosives (Part 3 of Article 30, Part 2 of Article 105, Part 3 of Article 222.1, Part 2 of Article 223.1 of the Criminal Code). Charges have already been brought against the minors.
Who they were planning to kill. The agency did not disclose the name of the alleged target of the attack or the name of the enterprise where this person worked. It is only known that the intended victim was an employee of a research and production enterprise who owned the exploded car.
As Agentstvo found, one of the photographs from the scene was taken near the parking lot by the M. F. Stelmakh Polyus Research Institute at 3 Vvedenskogo Street. Journalists also noted that, judging by the Yandex Maps street panorama, the blown-up car was parked on the other side of the road, in the parking lot in front of the institute.
The M. F. Stelmakh Polyus Research Institute is part of the Shvabe holding, which is one of Rostec’s structures. The holding was created in 2016 to help launch new production facilities and to facilitate cooperation in laser and optical technologies. After the start of the war with Ukraine, the institute came under U.S. sanctions.
As Agentstvo noted, the building also houses the office of SKAT-R LLC. This research and production enterprise was founded in 1991 by people from the Polyus Research Institute. SKAT-R develops, manufactures, and supplies laser and optoelectronic instruments, including components for aircraft equipment and docking systems.
Two blown-up cars in one day. In the daytime on June 9, a Zeekr car exploded in a parking lot in Moscow’s Koptevo district. Some Z-channels wrote that the battery had detonated in the car. However, later law enforcement officials said that a controlled detonation of a suspicious object had taken place.
Earlier, on the morning of June 9, a BMW X3 exploded on Koldunova Street in the Aviatorov microdistrict of Balashikha, outside Moscow. According to investigators, an explosive device went off in the car. A criminal case has been opened, but the exact article under which it was initiated has not been specified.
The driver died at the scene. His name and place of work have not been officially disclosed. According to the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU and the Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy, the dead man was allegedly Damir Davydov, deputy head of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Defense Ministry. There is no official confirmation of this information.
As Vazhnye Istorii noted, a BMW belonging to the Davydov family, similar to the one blown up in Balashikha, appeared in photographs on the colonel’s son’s social media. According to leaked data, Damir Davydov lived in Balashikha 240 meters from the site of the explosion.