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Russian generals’ assassinations expose growing rift inside Putin’s security apparatus
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For the second time in little more than a year, a blast tore through the Moscow suburb of Balashikha, Russia, and left a Russian military figure dead.
On June 9, explosives planted under a BMW detonated as the driver began leaving a parking lot, according to independent Russian outlet The Insider. The outlet identified the man killed as Lt. Gen. Damir Davydov, a Russian Defense Ministry official responsible for supplying missiles and artillery ammunition to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
The location was striking. The explosion occurred roughly 1,150 feet from the site where Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of Russia’s General Staff, was killed in a car bombing in April 2025, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
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A screen grab from a video shows the car in which Russian Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik was killed, confirmed by Russia’s Investigative Committee, on April 25, 2025, in the Moscow region. (Russian Investigative Committee / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Months before Moskalik’s death, another senior Russian officer was assassinated in Moscow.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, was killed when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter exploded outside an apartment building. A source in Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, told Reuters the agency carried out the operation.
Together, the attacks are part of a broader pattern of assassinations and attempted assassinations targeting senior Russian military figures — a campaign that a European intelligence source says is now exposing tensions inside Putin’s own security system.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, senior Russian military figures have been killed in missile strikes, drone attacks, car bombings, crashes and frontline combat — a toll that, according to a European intelligence source, is now fueling internal tensions between Russia’s military and the FSB, Russia’s powerful domestic security service and successor to the Soviet KGB.
«There are internal frictions between Russian security institutions,» a European intelligence source told Fox News Digital. «The Russian military wants the FSB to guarantee physical protection for Russian generals, but the FSB is opposed to taking responsibility for the military.»
The dispute reflects a deeper rivalry inside Russian President Vladimir Putin’s system, where the security services have long held a privileged position over the armed forces, according to multiple sources.
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«This goes back to Soviet times,» the European intelligence source said. «The security services do not like the military, and the military does not like the security services.»
The central tension, according to the European intelligence source and Russian opposition figure Maxim Katz, is inside Putin’s own system: the war has elevated the importance of the military on the battlefield, while the political structure in Moscow still treats generals as a potential threat.
The result is a paradox for the Kremlin. Russia needs its military commanders to sustain the war, but the security services that dominate Putin’s system appear reluctant to take responsibility for protecting them.
The damaged Kia Sorento lies at the scene where Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian General Staff’s army operational training directorate, was killed in a car bomb in Moscow, Dec. 22, 2025. (Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters)
At least 15 Russian generals have been confirmed killed since the full-scale invasion began, according to independent Russian outlet Mediazona.
The toll includes five lieutenant generals, seven major generals and three former generals.
Some died far from Moscow, closer to the battlefield.
Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov, deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, was killed in July 2023 in a Ukrainian Storm Shadow missile strike on the Russian-occupied city of Berdiansk. Maj. Gen. Sergei Goryachev, chief of staff of the 35th Combined Arms Army, was killed in June 2023 during Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region. Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of the 14th Army Corps, was killed near Krynky in southern Ukraine in November 2023.
Others were struck inside Russia or in Russian-controlled territory.
Lt. Gen. Alexander Otroshchenko, a senior Russian air force commander, died in a military transport plane crash over occupied Crimea in March 2026. Retired Maj. Gen. Kanamat Botashev, flying for the Wagner Group, was killed in May 2022 after his Su-25 was shot down over Ukraine’s Luhansk region.
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Igor Kirillov was killed Dec. 17, 2024, when an explosive device hidden in a scooter went off outside a building in Moscow, officials said. (AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)
The losses began in the opening weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, when Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of Russia’s 41st Combined Arms Army, and Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov, deputy commander of the 8th Army, were killed.
Katz said the military has long occupied a vulnerable position inside the Russian power structure.
«In Russia, the FSB is the biggest and most powerful security organization, and Putin himself comes from that system,» Katz told Fox News Digital. «The army, on the other hand, has always been viewed by these people as a threat.»
Katz said the Kremlin historically has feared popular military figures because the army is one of the few institutions with the capacity to challenge political power.
«You will not find Russian military men in senior government positions,» Katz said. «Since Stalin, they have been afraid of the army. Whenever there is a relatively well-known military figure with a name of his own, they deal with it somehow — legally, or like with Prigozhin, or like with other generals. In Russia, there is no such thing as a popular general.»
Katz argued that even during wartime, when the military might be expected to gain status, Putin’s system keeps the army politically weak.
«The army does not take part in decision-making,» Katz said. «It is funded now, but everything goes to the war. The generals are rich, but not like ministers or FSB people. Among the elites, they are the most deprived.»
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A view shows flowers placed on a table in front of a board with a photograph of Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov, who, according to local authorities, was recently killed in the Kursk region amid Russia-Ukraine conflict, during an exhibition of soldiers’ portraits in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, Russia, July 3, 2025. (Tatiana Meel/Reuters)
That dynamic, Katz said, helps explain why Russian generals may not want the FSB responsible for their protection.
«For them, the FSB is a much bigger threat than the Ukrainian army,» Katz said. «The Ukrainian army kills a general once in a while. The FSB puts generals in prison much faster.»
The European intelligence source said the killings matter not only because of the operational losses, but because of the psychological effect inside the Russian army.
«Putin understands that losing prominent Russian generals can affect morale within the Russian army, which is already low from the Russian perspective,» the source said.
The apparent compromise, according to the European intelligence source, was to shift responsibility away from the FSB.
«The FSB did not want to deal with military protection, so the security service of the Russian presidential administration would take care of those generals,» the source said.
Katz said the internal pressure on Putin may also collide with Russia’s parliamentary elections in September — a moment he believes Western observers are largely ignoring.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been blamed for ordering numerous assassinations of critics and defectors. ( )
He said the vote will not be free, and the Kremlin is expected to manipulate the results.
But he argued that if public support for Putin’s United Russia party has fallen sharply, it may become harder for the regime to make the official results appear believable.
«Everyone already knows what results they will announce,» Katz said. «The question is whether anyone will believe those results.»
Katz said Putin’s system has long depended not only on control, but on the perception that the Kremlin still commands broad public support.
«Putin has never ruled in a situation where he does not have a majority,» Katz said. «His legitimacy rests on everyone believing that he has majority support. Once everyone believes he does not have a majority, and that he did not just cheat a little but simply drew the results, that is a different story.»
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A portrait of Wagner Group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash two months after launching his brief rebellion, lies on flowers on the grave at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
He compared the potential challenge to authoritarian systems that are forced to move from managed popularity to open coercion.
«Putin cannot lose like Orban,» Katz said. «But if everyone in Russia knows that everyone voted against him and he drew the results in his favor, that would be a new situation. He has never been in that position before.»
Fox News Digital reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian governments for comment but did not receive responses in time for publication.
russia, vladimir putin, ukraine, wars
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A top government watchdog group released a multipoint plan to protect the homeland and the integrity of U.S. citizenship after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling affirming birthright citizenship as enshrined in federal law.
Conservatives across the country criticized Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, along with the court’s three liberal justices, arguing that the ruling opens the door to citizenship for children born to foreign nationals illegally present in the U.S. and dilutes American citizenship.
The Oversight Project shared its «Keeping Families Together Plan» with Fox News Digital, arguing the ruling did not grant legal status to the parents of so-called anchor babies, a premise central to its proposal.
«Now that the illegal alien community has achieved weapons of mass reproduction… you need to turn off that multiplying effect. And if the goal of mass deportation is quantitative, which of course it is, you need go [to] places where legal immigration spreads the most or is concentrated the most,» said Mike Howell, an attorney and president of the Oversight Project.
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Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. President Donald Trump attended in person as the US Supreme Court heard a landmark case weighing the constitutionality of his contentious bid to end birthright citizenship, an extraordinary and possibly unprecedented move for the nation’s highest office. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)
«That’s why I’ve advocated so long for worksite enforcement,» he said, noting farms and factories need enforcement rather than «playing onesies and twosies» in sanctuary cities.
An increase in deportations, particularly of the parents of potential anchor babies, is key now that unfettered naturalization is a real possibility, he added.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 80 illegal migrants, including several with criminal records, during a worksite enforcement operation at a Louisiana racetrack on June 17th. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
«Go to ‘red’ places and deport.»
By deporting parents of so-called «anchor babies,» in most cases the child would be deported with the parent — and if not, that parent would have the «moral onus» of abandoning the child, Howell said.
«If you are truly committed to the idea that birthright citizenship is absurd in its application, then it should be preventative,» he added, saying part of the plan to keep foreign families together would entail throwing roadblocks up to pregnant foreigners having children in the U.S.
Positioning ICE at certain hospitals would help prevent that, he said.
Turning to combating «birth tourism» — in which organizations help foreign nationals travel to the U.S. for the purpose of giving birth to U.S.-citizen children — Howell said China is the biggest source of the practice and other economic threats.
Asked how to thread the needle with the U.S.’ economic reliance on Beijing, Howell said Tuesday’s ruling shows it is time to play «hardball.»
He criticized President Donald Trump’s blessing of thousands of Chinese students continuing to study in America, which, in Howell’s words, would «prop up our failing university system.»
«The elite regions of [China’s] upper class love access to the U.S. financial system and coming here and taking advantage of it. And so if you’re negotiating and it’s the art of the deal… take away the thing they want.»
Howell claimed one Chinese billionaire has been «shipping his sperm» to California to inseminate women, resulting in children being born with U.S. citizenship.
«What kind of serious country allows [that],» he said. Reports from outlets including Fortune have described wealthy Chinese businessmen engaging in repeated surrogacy arrangements involving American women.
Howell said that despite talk of President Donald Trump’s «mass deportation» agenda, the numbers don’t match the boasts so far.
«The fact remains there isn’t a mass deportation campaign underway. And that’s why we’ve been pushing this Mass Deportation Coalition, which has so many members across the country and a policy framework for them to do it,» he said, acknowledging that Trump has had «special interests» buffeting his attempts because they don’t want their workforces deported, and setbacks like the public outcry over agent-involved shootings in Minneapolis that led to «cold feet.»
Asked about the Oversight Project’s plan and Howell’s comments, the White House said Trump remains «totally committed» to protecting the «value of natural-born citizenship.»
«[That] is why, following yesterday’s ruling, he directed Congress to take immediate action to address this. Simultaneously, the administration will double down on our efforts to keep the border secure and deport illegal aliens.»
Spokesperson Abigail Jackson added that the DOJ will prioritize birth-tourism schemes, some of which Howell laid out.
Howell’s plan also includes a veiled shot at Roberts — who, despite being a Republican’s appointee, is often the swing vote in favor of the court’s liberal minority as he was Tuesday.
The George W. Bush appointee famously roiled Republicans after deeming ObamaCare constitutional by defining its no-insurance penalty as a «tax,» while writing in the same 2012 ruling that Congress could not force Americans to buy insurance.
«The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, but only whether it is a ‘fairly possible’ one,» Roberts wrote in NFIB v. Sebelius.
Howell said lawmakers could therefore create a mechanism through congressional reconciliation to punish birth-tourists — but define the penalty as a «tax.»
«Much like the ObamaCare plan being upheld as a tax by the Supreme Court, this would survive constitutional scrutiny,» the Oversight Project’s plan read.
The plan also goes farther, calling on DHS to suspend all visas for countries like China that engage in birth tourism.
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The key, Howell said, is to start ignoring the noise from the left and from critics and power through the end of the congressional term with attainable goals in mind no matter how controversial critics say they are.
«We took a hit today, a big hit, but the damage can be mitigated and the overall problem can be solved with a lot political backbone and using the money from the Big Beautiful Bill quickly and without fear of what the left-wing media might say about it,» he said.
«Reconciliation is a beautiful vehicle to achieve those kind of cost-cutting measures. ObamaCare was a tax. The rule is a tax, so why can’t we use a tax here? I’m sure the legal pundits will have much to say about that one,» Howell remarked.
«But by any hook, nook, or cranny, we need to fight this policy,» he went on, adding the mainstream media and some moderates will be lambasting the social repercussions of the plan.
«If the administration’s going to take to the airwaves and say this is like a disgraceful ruling that undermines our sovereignty, then they need to act.»
«The suburban moms will be angry. They will say all that kind of stuff. But I want them to follow through because there’s 77 million Americans who sent Trump back to the White House after everything we went through.»
Protesters demonstrate against illegal immigrants being deported. (Allen Schaben/Getty Images)
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In the interim, Rep. Andy Ogles IV, R-Tenn., and Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., have unveiled constitutional amendment proposals to overturn the court’s ruling, though observers say the efforts appear politically untenable at present.
When asked about characterizations of DHS’ efforts, an agency spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «we disagree with the ruling. Congress must get to work to end birthright citizenship immediately.»
«In President Trump’s first year back in office, more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations. As of June 24, we have now deported over 948,000 illegal aliens and arrested over 981,000 illegal aliens,» the spokesperson said, adding that since the first day of Trump’s administration, DHS has been delivering on the promise to «Make America Safe Again» and more than 3 million have been deported.
«Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.»
illegal immigrants, politics, immigration, deportation, homeland security, china, supreme court, donald trump
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RNC chair predicts first-ever midterm convention will turn Dallas into ‘Trumpapalooza’ for 2026 fight
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EXCLUSIVE – Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters predicted Wednesday that Republicans will «knock it out of the park» at the party’s first-ever midterm convention, casting the Dallas gathering as a «Trumpapalooza» aimed at firing up GOP voters in a difficult midterm climate.
Gruters spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital a day after President Donald Trump announced the Sept. 9-10 convention in Dallas, an unusual effort to put Trump and the GOP’s 2026 message center stage before voters decide control of Congress.
«It gives us a chance to highlight all the wonderful things this president has done in our effort on this great American comeback to highlight the ideas, policies and people that’s making it happen,» Gruters said.
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President Donald Trump applauds on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024. (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon)
National political conventions, where party delegates from around the country formally nominate their party’s presidential candidates, normally take place during presidential election years.
But with Republicans facing a rough political climate as they aim to protect their narrow control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in this year’s elections, they see the midterm convention as an effective vehicle to get their message out.
«We can win. It’s going to start here at the convention. I’m super excited about it,» Gruters emphasized.
And pointing to primary victories in recent weeks by far-left and socialist candidates over the Democratic Party establishment, Gruters said «we’re going to be able to highlight and contrast where the Republican Party is versus what the left is, and the fact that they’re getting pushed and now controlled and being run by these radical leftists that want to fundamentally change our country.»
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Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King’s Theater on June 18, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Party leaders are also hoping the convention will help to energize MAGA voters who don’t always vote when Trump isn’t on the ballot.
Gruters called Trump the «best showman that’s ever existed in politics, bar none… He knows how to deliver these low-propensity voters. He knows how to get people up, motivated, excited about the midterms, and that’s what we’re going to need.»
Currently, the president’s approval ratings remain well underwater, with many Americans rating him poorly on his handling of the economy and on the issue of affordability.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Director of Rapid Response Kendall Witmer told Fox News Digital on Tuesday evening, «The American people can’t afford their bills or to fill up at the pump because of Donald Trump, and Republicans’ response is to throw a multi-million dollar televised celebration for Trump that will only remind Americans of his failed promise to them and tie already flailing Republican swing-seat candidates to a historically unpopular president.»
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Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin addresses party members at the DNC’s summer meeting, on Aug. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)
The DNC, which significantly trails the RNC in fundraising, considered holding a midterm convention but decided earlier this year not to move forward with the costly event.
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Witmer emphasized that «Democrats are already hitting the trail and speaking directly with American voters about our plans to cut costs and make health care affordable.
republicans elections, donald trump, midterm elections, politics, republican convention
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