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Igor Kirillov, head of the radiological, biological and chemical protection unit of the Russian Defense Ministry, speaks about a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma on June 22, 2018, at Patriot Park in the Moscow region.
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A top Russian general accused of being responsible for Ukraine’s use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was killed by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service in Moscow on Tuesday morning, in the most high-profile killing of its kind.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense forces, was killed outside an apartment building when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter struck him and his aide, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates serious crimes, said.
An SBU source confirmed to Reuters that the Ukrainian intelligence agency was behind the attack. “The liquidation of the head of the radiation and chemical protection troops of the Russian Federation is the work of the SBU,” the source said.
The source said a scooter containing explosives was detonated, killing Kirillov and his assistant, as they drove into the entrance of a house on Moscow’s Ryazansky Prospekt.
Kirillov, 54, is the most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated by Ukraine inside Russia, and his killing is likely to prompt Russian authorities to review security protocols for top military officials and find a way to avenge his killing.
Former President Dmitri Medvedev, now Russia’s top security official, was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying that Ukraine’s military and political leaders are seeking immediate revenge for Kirillov’s murder.
Moscow blames Ukraine for the high-profile killings on its soil to undermine morale and punish those it considers guilty of war crimes by Kyiv. Ukraine, which says that the war against Russia poses an existential threat to the Ukrainian state, has made it clear that it considers these targeted killings a legitimate tool.
Reuters photos and video from the scene showed a broken entrance to an apartment building with bomb-blackened bricks and doors hanging from hinges, and what appeared to be two bodies under black plastic sheeting in the snow.
According to the investigators, a criminal case has been opened for the murder of two soldiers. Law enforcement sources told Russian media that a terrorism case would likely be opened.
Kirillov worked “for the motherland without fear”.
Russia denies using chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine and Kirillov, who was married with two sons, sometimes appeared on state television accusing Ukraine of violating nuclear safety protocols at the Defense Ministry or allegedly leaking information to the West. crimes
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova paid tribute to Kirillov, saying he had “fearlessly” worked “for the Motherland” to expose Western chemical weapons-related and other crimes and what Moscow says were cover-ups. In Syria and elsewhere.
Britain imposed sanctions in October on Kirillov and his nuclear defenses over the use of riot control agents and several reports of the use of the toxic battlefield choking agent chloropicrin.
Such agents, Ukraine alleges, are used to disorient its troops, leaving them unable to defend themselves against Russian attacks.
Kirillov was assassinated since Ukrainian state prosecutors announced that he had been charged in absentia with the use of banned chemical weapons, the Kyiv Independent cited the SBU at the time.
The lieutenant general was also listed in an extensive unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered enemies of the country called Myrotvorets (Peacemaker). A photo of Kirillov on the website was superseded with the word “Liquidated” in red letters on Tuesday morning.
Russia says Ukraine has carried out a series of targeted killings on its soil since Moscow’s all-out war against Ukraine began in February 2022.
The most high-profile cases include the 2022 killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, in a car bomb attack, the 2023 killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a cafe bombing, and last year’s shooting. Kyiv indicts a Russian submarine commander for war crimes.
Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defense troops, known as the RKhBZ commanded by Kirillov, are special forces that operate in conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination and are tasked with protecting ground forces operating in extreme conditions.
