It named the officer as Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and said it had opened a criminal case into the incident on Friday in Balashikha.
"According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements," the Investigative Committee said.
Its statement did not say who might be behind the incident.
Several high-ranking Russian military figures have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine in operations blamed by Moscow on Kyiv.
Russian media outlet Baza said a bomb in a parked car had been detonated remotely when the officer - who lived locally - walked past.
The Izvestia newspaper published video showing a person approaching a line of parked cars outside an apartment complex and an explosion that sent parts of a vehicle flying metres into the air.
Kommersant newspaper said a second person was also killed.
Moskalik, who held the rank of major general, had taken part in several high-level Russian delegations, according to defence ministry bulletins and media reports.
In December, Ukraine's SBU intelligence service used a bomb hidden in an electric scooter to kill Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, whom Kyiv accused of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
The SBU did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported death of Moskalik.
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