Key facts
- Russia's Investigative Committee said a serviceman was killed when the car he was driving was blown up in St Petersburg's Pushkinsky District.
- The committee said it opened a criminal case into the murder of a member of the armed forces.
- Another serviceman was killed in a car explosion in the same district of St Petersburg on August 27.
A Russian military serviceman was killed on November 12 when the car he was driving was blown up in the Pushkinsky District of St Petersburg, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement. The committee said investigative authorities had opened a criminal case into the murder of a member of the armed forces.
Video showed military police sealing off the area while investigators and forensic scientists worked at the scene. A bomb-damaged dark blue SUV stood on a road littered with blast debris next to what appeared to be an empty passenger bus that also appeared to have suffered damage.
The serviceman was not immediately identified. The online Fontanka newspaper reported that the deceased held the rank of colonel, a detail Reuters said it could not independently verify.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for previous assassinations of senior military officials and people linked to Moscow's war effort. Ukrainian sources have claimed responsibility in some cases while denying others. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on November 12.
Another serviceman was killed in a car explosion in the same district of St Petersburg on August 27. Other car bomb attacks have occurred in Moscow and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, in recent months.