On June 22, 2018, Igor Kirillov, head of the radiological, biological and chemical protection department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, spoke at a press conference on the suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma at Patriot Park in the Moscow region .
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A top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons by Ukrainian forces was assassinated by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service in Moscow on Tuesday morning, in the most high-profile killing of its kind.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates serious crimes, said Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection force Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter outside an apartment building. Death.
An SBU source confirmed to Reuters that Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the attack. “It is the job of the SBU to clean up the head of the Russian Federation’s radiation and chemical protection forces,” the source said.
As Kirillov and his aides walked into the entrance of a house on Moscow’s Ryazan Street, a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated, killing the two, sources said.
Kirillov, 54, was the most senior Russian officer to be assassinated by Ukraine on Russian soil, and his murder could prompt Russian authorities to review security protocols at the top of the military and find ways to avenge his killing.
Russia’s state news agency quoted former president and now top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev as saying that Ukraine’s military and political leadership now faces imminent retaliation for Kirillov’s murder.
Moscow holds Ukraine responsible for a series of high-profile assassinations on its soil aimed at weakening morale and punishing those Kyiv believes have committed war crimes. Ukraine says Russia’s war on Ukraine poses an existential threat to the Ukrainian state and has made clear it views such targeted killings as a legitimate tool.
Photos and videos taken by Reuters at the scene showed a blown-out entrance to an apartment building, bricks blackened by bombs, doors dangling from their hinges and two bodies lying under black plastic sheets on the snow.
Investigators say they have launched an investigation into the murders of two service members. Law enforcement sources told Russian media that a terrorism case may be opened.
Kirillov “works fearlessly for the motherland”
Russia denies accusations that Ukraine used chemical weapons on the battlefield, and Kirillov himself, who is married with two sons, sometimes appears on state television, giving briefings at the Defense Ministry, accusing Ukraine of violating nuclear security agreements or Western powers. Various accusations.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova paid tribute to Kirillov, saying he worked “fearlessly” for “the motherland” and exposed what she said were chemical weapons-related crimes and other crimes by the West, as well as Moscow’s The alleged cover-up was in Syria and elsewhere.
In October, Britain imposed sanctions on Kirillov and his nuclear defense forces over their use of riot control agents and over multiple reports of the use of the toxic asphyxiant chloropicrin on the battlefield.
Ukraine claims the agents were used to confuse its troops and render them unable to defend themselves against Russian attacks.
The Kyiv Independent quoted the SBU as saying at the time that Kirillov was murdered a day after Ukrainian state prosecutors reportedly charged him in absentia with suspected use of banned chemical weapons.
The lieutenant general was also listed in a vast unofficial database of Ukrainians considered enemies of the country, called Myrotvorets (Peacemakers). On Tuesday morning, Kirillov’s photo on the website was covered in red letters with the words “liquidation.”
Russia says Ukraine has carried out a series of targeted assassinations on its soil since Moscow launched an all-out war against Ukraine 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 and the murder of pro-war blogger Vladlen Vladlen Tatarsky was murdered in the 2023 cafe bombing, as well as the shootings last year.
The Russian Radioactive, Chemical and Biological Defense Force (RKhBZ) commanded by Kirillov is a special force that operates in conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination. Its mission is to protect ground forces operating in extreme conditions.
