MOSCOW: Russia has detained a 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan in connection with the killing of senior Russian general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in Moscow.
According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the suspect was allegedly recruited by Ukrainian intelligence to carry out the assassination.
On December 17, 2024, Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces, was targeted by an explosive device placed on an electric scooter outside a residential building in Moscow. The device was remotely detonated while Kirillov was outside.
The blast resulted in the deaths of Kirillov and his assistant.
The FSB claimed that the suspect, who has not been named, was recruited by Ukrainian special services and received instructions to carry out the attack.
The suspect reportedly received a $100,000 reward and was promised the possibility of relocating to the European Union in exchange for the killing. He allegedly received a homemade explosive device in Moscow, which he placed on the scooter parked near Kirillov’s residence.
The FSB also stated that the suspect monitored Kirillov’s movements using a rented car equipped with a camera that livestreamed the footage to Ukrainian handlers in Dnipro. Once Kirillov emerged from the building, the suspect remotely triggered the bomb.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) had previously claimed responsibility for the attack. According to a source speaking to the BBC, Ukraine viewed Kirillov as a “legitimate target” due to his alleged involvement in war crimes.
On the day before his death, Ukraine charged Kirillov in absentia with “the mass use of banned chemical weapons” during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Russia has consistently denied these allegations, maintaining that it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile in 2017.
Kirillov, 54, had been previously sanctioned by the United Kingdom over the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials accuse him of overseeing the use of chemical weapons more than 4,800 times during his leadership.
Following the assassination, images from the scene in Moscow showed the damaged entrance to the building, with scorch marks on the walls and blown-out windows. Two body bags were seen on the street.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced plans to raise the assassination of General Kirillov at the United Nations Security Council on December 20. Russian officials have vowed to identify and punish those responsible for the killing.
