Russia detains a suspect in the assassination of chemical weapons commander Igor Kirillov.

News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 18th December 2024

Russia announced on Wednesday that it had captured an Uzbek man who had admitted to placing and detonating a bomb in Moscow that murdered a top general, Igor Kirillov, on the orders of Ukraine’s SBU security organization. Kirillov, the commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was murdered outside his apartment building on Tuesday, along with his aide, when a bomb placed in an electric scooter exploded.He is the most senior Russian military commander slain in Russia by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service claimed responsibility for the assassination after accusing Kirillov of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers, which Moscow denies.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes, said in a statement on Wednesday that the unidentified suspect informed them he had traveled to Moscow to complete an assignment for Ukraine’s secret agencies.In a video provided by the Baza news organization, which has connections in Russian law enforcement circles, the suspect is shown sitting in a vehicle, explaining his conduct.  It was unclear under what conditions he was speaking, and Reuters was unable to quickly confirm the video’s veracity.
Dressed in a winter coat, the suspect is seen stating he came to Moscow on the directions of Ukraine’s intelligence agencies, purchased an electric scooter, and got an improvised explosive device.

He recalls putting the gadget on an electric scooter and parking it outside Kirillov’s apartment complex.
Investigators described him as claiming he installed a surveillance camera in a rental car, which was allegedly observed in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro by those who planned the murder. The suspect, believed to have been born in 1995, is filmed stating he remotely detonated the bomb as Kirillov exited the building. He claims Ukraine offered him $100,000 and residence in a European nation.Investigators stated they were identifying more persons involved, and the daily Kommersant newspaper reported that one more suspect had been apprehended. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said Moscow will address the killing during a United Nations Security Council meeting on December 20. Everyone engaged in the murders would be apprehended and punished, and Moscow would not be frightened, she stated.
“We see that the Kiev administration has once again accepted credit for a fresh terrorist act. “All these SBU losers and the insane Kiev regime are all tools managed by the Anglo-Saxons,” Zakharova added, using a phrase Russia uses to designate the United States and the United Kingdom. “They are the main beneficiaries of Kiev’s terrorism.”

The US State Department stated on Tuesday that Washington had no link to the assassination or previous knowledge of it. A representative for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that Kirillov “propagated an illegal invasion and imposed suffering and death on the Ukrainian people.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claims Moscow’s activities in Ukraine are intended to preserve Russia’s security against NATO’s expansion, has made no public remark on the assassination. On Wednesday, Dmitry Peskov, his spokesperson, hailed the efforts of Russian intelligence agencies in probing the issue and accused Ukraine of employing “terrorist methods.”

Former President Dmitry Medvedev criticized a London Times editorial that described the assassination as “a legitimate act of defence by a threatened nation”. He claimed that under the same reasoning, Western leaders who provide military help to Ukraine would be appropriate targets for Russia.
Moscow blames Ukraine for a spate of deaths on its land. Ukraine claims Russia’s war against it constitutes an existential danger to the Ukrainian state and has stated that such executions, which are designed to degrade morale and punish individuals suspected of war crimes, are legal.