An explosion at an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, Aug. 1, killed three people and injured 21 others in what Russian authorities described as an attack involving an improvised explosive device (IED). The blast occurred at the Balzi Rossi restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to the Russian National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) and state news agency TASS, a woman attempted to carry an explosive device into the establishment but was stopped by a security guard. Both the woman and the guard were killed in the detonation, along with one restaurant patron.
The Russian Interior Ministry confirmed the casualty figures, and bomb disposal units were deployed to the scene. Local monitoring channels, citing the restaurant’s chef, Carmine Alfieri, and area residents, dismissed initial rumors of a gas leak, noting that the kitchen equipment was intact and the building does not have a gas supply.
Astra Telegram channel reported that the restaurant was hosting a birthday celebration for a Russian general at the time of the explosion, noting a large presence of military-plated vehicles parked outside the venue. Journalist Oleg Kashin suggested the event may have been a birthday party for Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, a high-ranking commander in the Russian Aerospace Forces, though Russian authorities have not officially confirmed the target of the attack.
