EPARussian security services say a 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan has been arrested in connection with the murder of senior general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in Moscow.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces, was outside a residential area early Tuesday morning when an explosive device hidden in a scooter was detonated. remote.
Russian security services said the unnamed suspect was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence, according to state media.
Ukraine’s security services have claimed they are behind the murder, a source told the BBC on Tuesday.
Ukrainian sources said Kirillov – the head of Russia’s chemical weapons agency – was a “legitimate target” and was accused of committing war crimes.
On Monday, the day before the killing, Ukraine charged Kirillov, 54, in absentia, saying he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”. Russia denies the accusations.
The public relations center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that the detained 29-year-old man was “suspected of committing a terrorist act”.
A statement said that during interrogation he explained that he was recruited by Ukrainian special services.
EPAIn a video released by the FSB, the purported suspect – a dark-haired man in handcuffs and with a visible tear on his jacket – speaks directly to the camera.
He appeared to say he was given a $100,000 reward and permission to move to the European Union in exchange for killing Kirillov.
According to Ukraine’s instructions, he went to Moscow and received an improvised explosive device, the FSB added.
He placed the explosive device on an electric motorbike parked at the entrance to the residential building where Kirillov lived, the FSB said.
He then rented a car to monitor Kirillov’s whereabouts and installed a camera on the dashboard to broadcast a live video feed to handlers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, claims for know more.
The FSB said that when they saw Kirillov step out of the house, the suspect was told to press a button and detonate the bomb.
Kirillov is believed to be the highest-ranking military figure assassinated in Russia since it invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago.
In addition to being charged by Ukraine, the 54-year-old man was also previously charged. was punished by Britain for allegedly using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s SBU security agency accused Russia of using chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s leadership.
Moscow denies this and said it destroyed the last remains of its massive chemical weapons arsenal in 2017.
Photos from the scene outside Kirillov’s apartment complex in southeast Moscow on Tuesday showed the entrance heavily damaged, with scorch marks on the walls and some windows blown out. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.
Also on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia would raise Kirillov’s assassination at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday.
Russian officials have vowed to find and punish those involved in the killing.
