A homemade bomb carried by a woman exploded outside an upscale Moscow restaurant just before 8 p.m. on Saturday. At least three people died and 21 were injured, authorities said.
The restaurant, Balzi Rossi, serves Italian food and sits in one of the city’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, police said. Its website said the venue was closed that day for a private event.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said an unidentified woman with an improvised explosive device tried to get into the restaurant and was stopped by a security guard. The bomb went off, killing her, the guard and a customer on the spot, the committee said.
The toll may be higher. REN TV, citing a source on Sunday, reported that two people taken to hospital had since died, which would make five dead. There was no official confirmation. The channel said six others were in serious condition.
Official reaction
“A brutal terrorist attack was carried out in Moscow yesterday,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement on Sunday. He offered condolences to the families and said those responsible would be punished.
Heavily armed officers sealed off the scene. Authorities have not named the dead, the injured or any suspects.
Unverified claims
Social media posts, unconfirmed, said a senior Russian military commander was the real target and escaped unhurt. Russia has been fighting a full-scale war in Ukraine for more than four years, and this year it promised tighter protection for high-ranking officers after a series of killings and attempts that it blamed on Kyiv. Russian war bloggers pointed at Ukraine straight away, with no evidence. Kyiv did not immediately comment.
Kommersant raised another possibility: that the woman did not know she was carrying a bomb and that someone else set it off remotely.
The Moscow Times noted a resemblance to the 2023 killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Darya Trepova was jailed for 27 years for handing him a statuette with a bomb inside, which exploded in his hands. She said a man in Ukraine who sent her money had told her to do it. Senior Ukrainian officials at the time neither claimed responsibility nor denied involvement.
Sources
- Female Bomber Kills At Least 3, Injures 21 Near Moscow Restaurant – The Moscow Times
- 2026 Moscow restaurant bombing
