BBC film features Russian exile who says he helped prepare the killing of General Staff officer Sarvarov
In a BBC documentary, an anonymous Russian émigré called Foma says his volunteer network tracked General Staff officer Fanil Sarvarov before he was killed in Moscow in December 2025. Foma stresses that his group does not take part in killings itself.
A man who calls himself Foma appears in a BBC documentary about people helping Ukraine from inside Russia. He claims he helped prepare the killing of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, who died in a car bombing in Moscow in December 2025. The film is titled “Traitors, Patriots, Spies: Shadowmen Helping Ukraine Inside Russia.”
Who Foma is
In the film Foma is shown only as a silhouette, with his face hidden. The filmmakers say that in early 2022 he warned Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the HUR, about Russia's planned invasion, then left Russia, and Ukrainians helped him settle in Warsaw. He now lives in Poland.
Foma says he coordinates a network of about 30 people working in Russia, Ukraine and several European countries, and that he also keeps contacts with sources in Russian intelligence services. According to him, the network gathers information on the locations of depots and headquarters, where units are stationed, where generals and staff officers live, where strategic bomber pilots live, and who issues orders. The investigative outlet iStories reported that the HUR confirmed it had worked with Foma.
One scene shows him training volunteers to carry out surveillance in Moscow. He tells them not to bring a phone and warns that if caught they face terrorism charges and 25 years in prison.
The Sarvarov and Kirillov killings
Foma says he wants Russian soldiers and officers who order prisoners shot and civilians raped and killed to think hard and stop. Regarding the December 2024 killing of General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, he said he was not involved but confirmed that his network passes information on Russian military personnel to Ukraine.
Asked about Sarvarov, he said tracking him took considerable effort: the general lived alternately with his mistress and a colleague, covered his tracks and constantly changed his schedule. Foma stresses, however, that his group does not take part in the killings.
Link to Volya and The Breakfast Show
A man using the same pseudonym has appeared since mid-September as a military expert on The Breakfast Show's morning broadcasts. On September 19, founder Alexander Plyushchev announced a new commentator, Foma, co-founder of the Telegram channel Volya. The film does not explicitly tie Foma to Volya, but Agentstvo journalists noticed a monitor showing Volya's Patreon donation page in several shots. Plyushchev said the team understood the risks of an anonymous commentator, and that Foma is one of four regular military commentators. Foma did not respond to Agentstvo.
