Russian Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, senior command of the General Staff, died this Friday due to the explosion of a car bomb in the Moscow region, according to the Russian Instruction Committee (CIR).

“According to preliminary data, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik died as a result of the explosion,” Svetlana Petrenko, a CIR spokeswoman, told local media.

Moskalik, deputy chead of the operations command of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces since 2021, died when approaching a car, a Volkswagen Golf, in which an explosive device was remotely detonated, according to Mash and Shot, two Telegram channels.

“The reason for the explosion was an explosive device. Fragments of the device were found at the scene of the accident,” a police source told the TASS agency.

The newspaper Kommersant suggests that a second person could have died in the attack, although other media do not report that possibility.

The sources cited by another channel, BAZA, speak of a gas cylinder as the reason for the explosion equivalent to 300 grams of trilite.

Other media believe that the cylinder that was in the car amplified the power of the explosive, which caused damage to the cars parked in the vicinity and the windows of adjacent buildings.

According to the Mash channel, the last owner of the car, which was parked in front of the portal of the building where the general lived, was an individual from the Ukrainian city of Sumi.

The Instruction Committee opened a criminal case for murder and illegal possession of explosives, while the spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs, María Zajárova, called the incident a “terrorist attack”.

The explosion took place in the courtyard of an urbanization built east of the Russian capital especially for retired military personnel, where a team of investigators, criminals and other agents has already been sent to supervise the site of the attack.

The Russian media offered images of the powerful explosion of tourism at the pass of the 59-year-old general, who had been included in the Ukrainian Mirotvorets list in which “the enemies of Ukraine” appear.

In December of last year, Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defense, also died in a bomb attack while leaving his home.

According to the Gazeta.ru portal, in both cases its authors studied in detail the routine, from the schedule to the route, which the victims followed daily.

Then, Russian President Vladimir Putin described this attack as a “serious failure” by the security services, who held the agents of the Ukrainian secret services responsible.

“This (the murder of Kirilov), of course, means that our law enforcement officers and special services let these attacks pass. We need to improve the work and avoid such serious failures,” he said.

In turn, shortly after, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed to have thwarted a series of attacks against senior military leaders in the country and reported the arrest of four Russian citizens as part of the investigation.

“The Russian Federal Security Service thwarted a series of attacks against high-ranking military personnel of the Ministry of Defense who participate in the special military operation (in Ukraine), as well as against members of their families,” the agency said.

Social networks continue to be protagonists in the massive farewell to Pope Francis, who died last Monday at the age of 88, in the midst of a growing controversy over the ‘selfies’ that some visitors have published in front of his coffin in St. Peter’s Basilica.

More than a hundred thousand people have paraded these days through the Vatican temple to say goodbye to the Argentine pontiff, including many tourists and curious people who have “snealed” for photographs for the last time the most “viral” pope in history.

In recent hours, images have been released of people who, after hours of waiting, take advantage of the few seconds that the authorities let stop in front of the coffin to take a selfie next to Francisco’s body inside the coffin and then publish them on social networks.

This has unleashed criticism from many faithful, who denounce the lack of respect and solemnity in a context of mourning.

“The moment lived with so many people loses a lot of intimacy; the queues, the speed, blur that experience,” Pedro lamented to EFE, who traveled a whole night by car from the Spanish town of Murcia to say goodbye to the pope.

“Many come more to take pictures than to pray for the pope,” he added bitterly.

Francis’ closeness to young people and his active digital presence, especially through the official account @Pontifex in X (formerly Twitter), marked the style of a pope who knew how to adapt to contemporary languages and build bridges with the new generations.

Although the account was inaugurated by Benedict XVI in December 2012, it was Francisco who turned that channel into a common communication tool with millions of faithful.

Four days after his death and on the eve of the massive funeral expected for Saturday, social networks continue to mourn his death with an avalanche of tributes, messages of affection and content that consolidates the Argentine pontiff as the most “viral” and photographed in history.

Now, those same young people pay tribute to him from platforms such as TikTok and Instagram with emotional posts that compile his most remembered speeches and the iconic moments of his pontificate.

And even videos generated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in which he is seen coming to heaven, received by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI, or even by Jesus, with whom he appears taking a picture “between the clouds.”

In the first 24 hours after the announcement of his death, more than 9.7 million content related to the pope and about 200 million interactions on social networks around the world were generated, according to an analysis by the SocialCom platform for Adnkronos.

A figure that surpassed other events of great global impact, such as the assassination attempt of US President Donald Trump in 2024.

Much loved by the new generations, Francisco managed to connect with her thanks to his direct tone, his simple language and his positive look towards the use of social networks, which he did not condemn or ignore during his pontificate.

The Indian government asked regional executives on Friday to identify all Pakistani citizens in their territories to ensure that they leave India once the deadline granted by the authorities to leave expires on April 27.

This measure was transmitted today to the heads of government of the different Indian states by the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, according to official sources cited by several media in the country.

Pakistani citizens must leave the country before April 27, following the order issued yesterday by the Indian Government, in which it indicated that all visas issued to nationals of the neighboring country will be revoked from that moment on.

He only made an exception with medical visa holders, to whom he granted until April 29 to leave India.

The order has increased transit at the only land crossing between India and Pakistan, known as the Attari-Wagah border, to where Pakistani citizens have traveled today to leave the country.

The suspension of visas is part of a series of measures ordered last Wednesday by New Delhi, in response to the terrorist attack perpetrated the day earlier in Indian-run Kashmir, in which 26 people died.

The Indian government said it had indications that the attackers had the support of Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of sponsoring the insurgency in Kashmir, which has caused a serious diplomatic crisis between the two nations.

In response to India’s measures, Pakistan suspended some visas for Indians and closed its side of the border – in reciprocity with New Delhi. It also closed its airspace to Indian airlines and announced the suspension of all bilateral agreements with India.