Explosion at “Detsky Mir” and a war among security services: how the bombing of FSB General Aleksei Titov became part of an internal struggle within the силовые elites
The explosion at the Detsky Mir building in the summer of 2025 was a terrorist attack targeting Lieutenant General Alexei Titov, deputy head of the FSB’s Fifth Service and head of the analytical department.
The bomb was given to him as a gift by Elena Barysheva, the widow of an FSB officer. She died instantly, and the general, whose legs were amputated, was placed in a coma. The circumstances of the incident, as well as the assassination attempt on GRU Deputy Chief General Vladimir Alekseyev, point to a showdown within the Russian intelligence services. A purge is underway of the generals responsible for initiating the SVO.
As a reminder, the explosion at the Detsky Mir building occurred on August 24, 2025.
Witnesses reported that the blast at the Central Children’s Store was so powerful that the thick walls of the building shook in every direction.
People fled in panic. Some suffered injuries and blood.
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The Central Children’s Store temporarily suspended operations. However, authorities claimed that the explosion was caused by... a helium cylinder used to inflate balloons.
As our project has learned, this was in reality a terrorist attack, resulting in the serious injury of General Alexei Titov, Deputy Head of the Fifth Service of the FSB. That day, Elena Barysheva called him and said she wanted to give him a gift. Her husband, Dmitriy Baryshev, was an FSB colonel and served under Titov; they were friends. Baryshev had died several years earlier under mysterious circumstances. Titov decided not to refuse his friend’s widow and arranged to meet her during his lunch break at the Detsky Mir building. As Titov approached Elena, an explosion occurred. Barysheva died instantly. Titov was hospitalized in critical condition and placed in a coma.
Before the incident, Barysheva had repeatedly complained about the "unworthy treatment of her husband and family by the FSB leadership." It is unknown whether she decided to take this step on her own or was persuaded.
It was information from Titov’s analytical department (the Fifth Service specializes in collecting intelligence in the former Soviet Union) that became one of the catalysts for Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
And on February 6, 2026, an assassination attempt was made on another high-ranking official directly involved in preparing the decision to launch the Special Military Operations, as well as subsequent decisions: Vladimir Alekseev, First Deputy Chief of the GRU. The gunman opened fire in a residential building on Volokolamsk Highway. Alekseev periodically visited his acquaintance, with whom he had a child. The apartment was registered to the developer, and secrecy measures were observed along the way. Therefore, the general believed he would not be detected there and dismissed his security detail.
According to the source, in both the Titov and Alekseev cases, the FSB’s Far Eastern Defense Forces had advance information about possible assassination plots. Specifically, regarding Alekseev’s case, a corresponding report was submitted a month before the assassination attempt. However, the FSB leadership decided not to respond to these "signals." Furthermore, internal FSB investigations into both assassination attempts were terminated by decision of the FSB leadership.
It strongly appears that a purge is underway of the generals directly responsible for preparing the SVO.