A deadly explosion at an upscale Moscow restaurant that left three people dead and at least 21 others injured was described by the city’s mayor as a “brutal terrorist act,” as officials pledged to track down those responsible.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued the statement Sunday, one day after the blast ripped through Balzi Rossi, an Italian restaurant in the Russian capital.
“Yesterday, a brutal terrorist act was committed in Moscow that claimed human lives. The victims are currently in the city’s hospitals, where they are receiving all necessary care,” Sobyanin wrote Sunday on social media.
Police block an area near a deadly explosion at a restaurant in Moscow, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)
Sobyanin said investigators were working to determine who carried out the attack, promising that those responsible “will certainly be found and will face the punishment they deserve.”
As of Sunday, Russian authorities had not named any suspects, and no organization had claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Emergency vehicles are parked in an area near a deadly explosion at a restaurant in Moscow, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the explosion was triggered by a homemade explosive device. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing local officials, reported that a woman carrying the bomb attempted to enter the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard moments before the device detonated.
The blast killed the woman, the security guard and a restaurant patron, RIA Novosti reported. At least 21 other people were injured in the explosion, which happened around 8 p.m. local time at the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square.
The restaurant was closed to the public Saturday night for a private event, according to its website and Russian state media.
Police block an area near a deadly explosion at a restaurant in Moscow, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)
Video released by Russian state media showed heavily armed police officers, ambulances and other emergency vehicles outside the damaged restaurant as investigators examined the scene.
Earlier this year, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said it would tighten security for senior military and government officials following a series of assassination attempts in Russian cities since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian authorities have not linked the restaurant bombing to those earlier attacks or to the war in Ukraine.
