Car explodes in Moscow; Telegram channels say it belongs to former Azarov spokesman

A Toyota has exploded in Moscow's southern Chertanovo district, according to the Telegram channels Mash, Shot, Baza and Ostorozhno Novosti. The channels say the car belonged to Sergei Zavorotny, a journalist who once served as press secretary to Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. This has not been officially confirmed.

The channels report that an explosive device was attached to the underside of the car on the driver's side and went off while the vehicle was moving along the street. Baza said the blast took place in the courtyard of a residential building on Kirovogradskaya Street, near the Yuzhnaya metro station. Witnesses reportedly saw a man lying on the pavement beside the car afterwards. Shot and Mash say Zavorotny was behind the wheel and survived, but is in serious condition.

Mash specified that the vehicle was a Toyota Fortuner SUV. It described Zavorotny as an "international affairs journalist" who had "held government positions in Ukraine."

The Investigative Committee, Russia's federal investigating authority, said a criminal case had been opened over the explosion on Kirovogradskaya Street. Its statement did not name the driver, and it is unclear what charge is being pursued.

Who Zavorotny is

Zavorotny worked at the pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. From 2003 to 2004 he headed the press service of the Rodina party's faction in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament. He later became press secretary to Azarov, who was Ukraine's prime minister from 2010 to 2014 under President Viktor Yanukovych.

Zavorotny also co-wrote a book with journalist Alexei Berdnikov about Russia's loss of Ukraine, based on the notes of an adviser to Azarov. He presented it at the Biblio-Globus bookstore in Moscow in 2018. The annotation on the LiveLib website calls it the most detailed and unflattering investigation of the events of the Kyiv coup of February 2014.