On the morning of Nov. 12, a car driven by a Russian military officer exploded in southern St. Petersburg. The local outlet Fontanka reported that a Russian army colonel was killed. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation into the car bombing — the second involving a military officer in the same St. Petersburg neighborhood in less than three months.
The explosion occurred at around 7 a.m. on Kolpinskoye Highway in the Slavyanka neighborhood, near a supermarket and a Tatneft gas station, according to a report by local broadcaster Channel 78, citing witnesses. The blast was captured by a building intercom camera. According to Fontanka, an explosive device had been attached to the underside of the vehicle and was detonated remotely as the colonel drove out of a courtyard.
The officer died at the scene. Fontanka initially reported that a relative had been in the vehicle with him and was injured. The outlet later clarified that the colonel had been alone in the car. His name has not been released.
Security service personnel were working at the scene, and Kolpinskoye Highway was closed. Traffic police shut the road between Polotskaya and Turovskaya streets. Five bus routes were altered as a result, according to the Dorozhny Kontrol SPB | LO Telegram channel. Buses Nos. 179, 254, 325 and 374 were rerouted via Rostovskaya and Turovskaya streets, while Route 388 was temporarily shortened. According to Fontanka, traffic jams stretched for about 1.5 kilometers in both directions.
On Aug. 27, a car carrying another Russian officer exploded on the same stretch of Kolpinskoye Highway in the Slavyanka residential neighborhood in the southern outskirts of the city. Fontanka described the deceased in that incident as a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Aerospace Forces. The man was killed and his wife was injured and hospitalized. The victim was believed to be 43-year-old Sergei Sechkov, who served in the 332nd Separate Guards Helicopter Regiment. Sechkov’s father confirmed to the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo that his son had died in the explosion. In May 2022, Ukrainian military intelligence accused members of Sechkov’s regiment of carrying out missile and bomb strikes against Ukrainian civilians in the Slobozhansky sector (a Russian and Ukrainian military term for an operational area in northeastern Ukraine).
According to Fontanka, the explosive device under Sechkov’s car was planted by a 24-year-old Russian woman who flew to Turkey several hours before the blast and later moved to Moldova. The outlet said she acted with the involvement of representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but provided no evidence to support the claim. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed their involvement in the bombing.
