Days after the explosion at Moscow’s Balzi Rossi restaurant, questions are growing about who exactly died there and who the intended target was. Unofficial reports suggest one of the victims may have been Gen. Valery Plakhotnyuk, a former Russian commander in Transnistria.
The Kremlin has not released any official identities of those killed or injured in Saturday’s blast. That silence has fueled speculation after the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU shared video allegedly showing Plakhotnyuk’s funeral at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery and photos of a grave with a portrait of the general.
According to the Kyiv Independent, citing sources, the intended target of the attack was Gen. Aleksandr Chaiko, commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces. The same account links the restaurant blast to retaliation for a failed assassination attempt in Kharkiv a day earlier, aimed at Col. Ihor Obolensky, commander of the Khartyia National Guard Corps. Ukrainian media said the man behind that plot had been recruited by Russian services.
A funeral clip and a tax record
Centrum Europy, the Polish-language outlet of Belsat, relayed unofficial reports naming Plakhotnyuk as one of the victims. The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which publishes alleged leaks from Russian special services, claimed the general had recently been buried at Moscow’s Troyekurovskoye Cemetery. It also released footage and photographs said to show a funeral and a grave marker with Plakhotnyuk’s portrait.
More evidence emerged through Vazhnyye Istorii, an independent investigative portal. Its reporters found that Plakhotnyuk’s tax identification number was invalidated on August 1, exactly the day of the Moscow explosion. That administrative move may be proof that he died in the attack.
No official word on Chaiko
So far, there is no reliable official information about Chaiko’s health or whether he was hurt at all. Russian independent media, cited by Ukrainian outlets, reported that the general’s daughter Maria and her husband were among the wounded.
The explosion killed five people and left 21 injured. Plakhotnyuk had not been on active military duty in recent years; according to Centrum Europy, he worked in Russia’s military-industrial complex. Earlier in his career, he commanded Russian forces in Transnistria, the Moldovan region occupied by Moscow since the 1990s.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
