Trial Opens in Moscow Car-Bombing Case as Defendant Pleads Guilty

Overview

• The Second Western District Military Court began hearing the case, and Evgeny Serebryakov admitted guilt and cited ideological motives, according to the court.
• Judicial materials state he coordinated with unidentified Ukrainian handlers via an encrypted European messenger and a mobile-game chat.
• Records detail a 2023 meeting in Istanbul where a curator provided $1,400 for components, later hidden in caches including a milk-carton stash in Bitsevsky Forest marked with a 'Z.'
• Investigators say he placed an IED under a Defense Ministry colonel’s car on Sinyavinskaya Street on July 24, 2024, which was detonated remotely, injuring the officer and his spouse and causing partial foot amputations and about 5 million rubles in damage.
• Authorities report he was detained in Bodrum and flown to Moscow on July 26, 2024, faces terrorism and explosives charges, and appears in FSB video confessing while saying he was promised $10,000–$20,000 and a Ukrainian passport.