Russian general buried in Moscow identified as Valery Plokhotnyuk. He likely died in explosion at Aerospace Forces chief’s birthday party.

Major General Valery Plokhotnyuk was laid to rest at Moscow's Troyekurovskoye Cemetery on August 5, according to anonymous Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU. Mediazona and Agentstvo, two independent Russian news outlets, confirmed Plokhotnyuk's death through state registries. The registries revealed that one of his personal documents was invalidated on August 1, the day of the explosion at Moscow's Balzi Rossi restaurant.

The birthday party for Alexander Chayko, commander-in-chief of Russia's Aerospace Forces, was reportedly in session at the time of the explosion. Leaked personal data suggests Plokhotnyuk was related to Chayko, though the nature of their relationship remains unknown. Plokhotnyuk's phone number was saved in Chayko's contact list as "Plokhotnyuk Valera, Masha’s Godfather."

One of Plokhotnyuk's relatives, Daniil Peredriy, was also buried at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery on August 6. Peredriy, the son-in-law of Chayko's daughter Maria, died on August 1, along with Plokhotnyuk. Plokhotnyuk served as chief of staff of Russia's 49th Combined Arms Army in 2021 and became a major general under Vladimir Putin's promotion in the same year.

He worked at the Academician Semenikhin Scientific Research Institute of Automatic Equipment from November 2022, developing control systems for military and civilian use. Ukrainian OSINT blogger Necro Mancer initially assumed Lieutenant General Igor Yerusalimov was the one buried at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery on August 5, but Verstka reported on August 6 that his death may have been a hoax.