Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Russian general who was hunted by Ukraine for employing chemical munitions was killed in detonation in Moscow.
A senior Russian armed forces general was killed on 17 Dec 2024 by a bomb concealed in a scooter outside his flat building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service levelled criminal accusations against him. A Ukraine security source verified that the Ukrainian intelligence agency had been behind the target. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces. He was killed as he went for his office. Kirillov’s deputy also perished in the attack.
Lt. Gen. has been in the position for more than seven years, being designated in 2017 after operating the country’s Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense between 2014 and 2017. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov 54 years old, was put under sanctions from many countries, including the Canada and UK for his measures in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Why did Kirillov face international sanctions from the West?
The deceased general regularly blamed Ukraine for using or intending to employ chemical weapons, without providing proof. When the UK put sanctions on Kirillov in October, it stated he had been “an effective mouthpiece for Russia disinformation, spreading falsehoods to mask Russia’s shady and difficult behaviour.” In October 2022 when Kyiv started to liberate parts in Kherson and elsewhere, having a major reversal to Russia’s invasion Kirillov made baseless charges that Ukraine was preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb,” spreading radioactive matter on its territory. “This work is in its final stage,” he stated.
What is the SBU’s stance on the Moscow detonation?
A day earlier, Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, unlocked a criminal investigation against him, charging him with directing the usage of banned chemical weapons. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, around 4,800 cases of Russian usage of chemical munitions have been registered on Kirillov’s orders since the start of the fight. He had also been sanctioned by the UK for the “offensive use of barbaric chemical weapons” on the battleground in Ukraine.
As reported by the Wahsignot Post, a source of the SBU expressed the agency was behind the episode. The official, who communicated on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discharge the information, represented Kirillov as a “war convict and an entirely fair target.”
How is Russia responding to the general’s assassination?
On the other hand, Moscow’s top state investigative agency stated it’s inquiring Kirillov’s demise as a case of terrorism, and administrators in Moscow promised to retaliate against Ukraine. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council headed by President Vladimir Putin, characterised the attack as an endeavour by Kyiv to divert public attention away from its military defeats and promised that its “senior military-political administration will confront inevitable retribution.”
