Moscow bombing exposes potential security gaps around Putin’s military elite, expert says

close Video Ukraine launches largest drone attack in months, Russia reports 3 dead Fox News correspondent Stephanie Bennett reports on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming a drone attack on Russia that killed three people on ‘Fox Report.’ NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Hören Sie sich diesen Artikel an 4 Min Russian President Vladimir Putin's drive to project "normalcy" in Moscow may have created a dangerous security blind spot, giving adversaries like Ukraine greater opportunities to target the Kremlin's military elite, an analyst said Monday. The assessment came after a deadly explosion ripped through an upscale Moscow restaurant on Aug. 1, where a senior Russian general was reportedly attending a private celebration. Several Russian media outlets claimed the bombing targeted Col. Gen. Alexander Chaiko, who led the troops that made a botched attempt to storm the Ukrainian capital in 2022 and recently was appointed the chief of Russia’s aerospace forces. The claims could not be independently verified. If Chaiko was indeed at the restaurant, "that would establish a compelling motive for Ukraine," Dr. Mark Episkopos, a Eurasia research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Fox News Digital. "But there has been an ongoing discourse inside Russia that, despite numerous such attacks, Russian elites and even military figures continue to flout [operational security] best practices by holding parties like this in the first place." The Russian Embassy in Rome accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack and said in a statement Aug. 2 that the attack was "evidence that the Ukrainian terrorist contagion is already beginning to spread." MAYOR CALLS UPSCALE RESTAURANT BOMBING A 'BRUTAL TERRORIST ACT' Law enforcement officers and emergency services personnel stand near the site of an explosion at a restaurant in central Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 1, 2026. (REUTERS) "The other factor here is that Putin has done his best to preserve a sense of ‘normalcy’ in Moscow and St. Petersburg, cultivating a facade of stability that Ukraine has been able to exploit," Episkopos added. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said an unidentified woman carried an improvised explosive device to the Balzi Rossi restaurant. The committee said the woman was stopped by security before the bomb was detonated near the restaurant's entrance. The Russian Embassy in Rome on Monday said five people were killed and 19 were injured in the attack. Ukraine LAUNCHES WHAT APPEARS TO BE ONE OF ITS LARGEST DRONE ATTACKS AGAINST Russia: REPORT Police block an area near a deadly explosion at a restaurant in Moscow, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP) "This particular event did seem to have a substantial level of security, which is why the person carrying the explosive was reportedly stopped and questioned at the entrance," Episkopos noted. Russian investigators suggested the courier may not have known she was transporting explosives and said the device was detonated remotely. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin condemned the "brutal terrorist attack," vowing that those responsible would be punished, according to Deutsche Welle. 'A NEW KIND OF WAR': INSIDE Ukraine'S HIDDEN FACTORIES MASS-PRODUCING COMBAT DRONES Russian President Vladimir Putin crosses himself during the Orthodox Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on April 12, 2026. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) "The means by which this attack was executed — a remotely detonated explosive device delivered on-site by a civilian — are also consistent with other assassinations deep inside Russian territory previously attributed to Ukraine," Episkopos said. "These include those of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, pro-Kremlin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and others," he said. Ukraine had not publicly commented on the restaurant bombing as of Monday afternoon, and no group had claimed responsibility. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly accused Kyiv of targeting senior military officers, pro-war figures and Russian-installed officials. Moscow, TALIBAN FORGE MILITARY ALLIANCE IN POWER GRAB AFTER US AFGHANISTAN EXIT: REPORTS Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces, on the side of a road in Lugansk region on February 26, 2022. (ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images) Episkopos noted that Kyiv has increasingly used unconventional tactics to offset Russia's superiority in conventional manpower and firepower. "Ukraine has pioneered a new style of asymmetric warfare that plays to its strengths and Russia's weaknesses — relatively porous borders and vast territory that's difficult to monitor, let alone defend," he said. "Ukraine's interior is smaller and comparatively better controlled, and the intelligence it receives from Western partners plays a role here." NATO MEMBER SCRAMBLES FIGHTER JETS AS RUSSIAN ATTACK ON Ukraine KILLS 8 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference after meetings with the heads of the EU and Ireland, following a formal ceremony to mark the launch of Ireland's eighth EU presidency, at Dublin Castle in Dublin on July 1, 2026. (Paul Faith / AFP via Getty Images) Episkopos added: "This makes operations like this more difficult to pull off. Russia has generally relied on its advantage in raw firepower to conduct airstrikes, as opposed to covert assassinations, against high-value Ukrainian targets." Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.