Moscow – Russia’s security service said Wednesday it has arrested a suspect in the murder of a top general in Moscow.
The suspect was described as an Uzbek national who had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) did not name the suspect but said he was born in 1995. According to an FSB statement, the suspect said he had been recruited by Ukrainian special services.
Ukrainian security sources told CBS News on Monday that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) killed Kirillov during a special operation. The claim could not be independently verified, but Russian officials vowed to take swift revenge on Ukrainian leaders.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target as he ordered the use of banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian army,” an informed SBU source told CBS News. “Such an inglorious end awaits anyone who kills Ukrainians. Retaliation for war crimes is inevitable.”
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Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was Killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after the Ukrainian security service filed criminal charges against him. His assistant also died in the attack. A Ukrainian official said the agency carried out the attack.
The FSB said the suspect was promised a $100,000 reward and permission to move to a European Union country in exchange for Kirillov’s murder.
The agency said the suspect, acting on instructions from Ukraine, traveled to Moscow, where he picked up a homemade explosive device. He then placed the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the entrance of the residential building where Kirillov lived.
The suspect then rented a car to monitor the location and installed a camera that livestreamed footage of the scene to his handlers in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. When Kirillov left the building, the suspect detonated the bomb.
According to the FSB statement, the suspect faces a prison sentence of up to life imprisonment.
Kirillov, 54, was the head of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces and was under sanctions from several countries, including Britain and Canada, for his actions in the country. Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. On Monday, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia has denied the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and has in turn accused Kiev of using toxic substances in the fight.
Kirillov, who took up his current job in 2017, was one of the most high-profile figures to make these accusations. He held numerous briefings to accuse the Ukrainian military of using toxic substances and planning attacks with radioactive materials – claims that Ukraine and its Western allies rejected as propaganda.
The bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was activated remotely, according to Russian news reports. Images from the scene showed shattered windows and scorched brickwork.
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Russia’s top state investigative agency said it was investigating Kirillov’s death as a case of terrorism, and officials in Moscow vowed to punish Ukraine.
