Suspect detained in killing of Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s biological, chemical forces in Moscow blast
Moscow – Russia’s security services said Wednesday they had detained a suspect in the killing of a top general in Moscow.
The suspects were described as Uzbek citizens recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) did not name the suspect but said he was born in 1995. According to a statement from the FSB, the suspect said he was recruited by Ukrainian special forces.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) killed Kirillov in a special operation, Ukrainian security sources told CBS News on Monday. The claim could not be independently confirmed, but Russian officials quickly vowed retaliation against the Ukrainian leader.
“Kirillov is a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target because he ordered the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces,” an SBU source asserted to CBS News. “Such an ignominious end awaits everyone who kills Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable.”
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Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov Killed on Tuesday by a bomb hidden in his motorcycle He is outside his apartment building in Moscow the day after Ukrainian security services filed criminal charges against him. His assistant was also killed in the attack. A Ukrainian official said the unit carried out the attack.
The FSB said the suspect had been promised a $100,000 reward and allowed to move to an EU country in exchange for killing Kirillov.
The agency said the suspect traveled to Moscow on instructions from Ukraine, where he picked up a homemade explosive device. He then put the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the door of the residential building where Kirillov lived.
The suspect then rented a car to monitor the location and installed a camera that live-streamed footage from the scene to his handlers in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. When Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb.
According to a statement from Russia’s Federal Security Service, the suspect faces a “maximum sentence of life imprisonment.”
Kirillov, 54, is the head of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection force. Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine. On Monday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) launched a criminal investigation into him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia denies using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and has in turn accused Kiev of using toxic agents in the fighting.
Kirillov, who took over his current post in 2017, is one of the most high-profile figures to make these accusations. He has held multiple briefings in which he has accused the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning attacks with radioactive material, but Ukraine and its Western allies have rejected this as propaganda.
According to Russian news reports, the bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was remotely triggered. Images from the scene showed shattered windows and charred brick walls.
Sefa Karacan/Anadolu, Getty Images
Russia’s top state investigative agency said it was investigating Kirillov’s death as a case of terrorism, and officials in Moscow vowed to punish Ukraine.
