MOSCOW (AP) — An Uzbek national accused of acting on behalf of Ukraine has been charged by Ukrainian security services with the killing this week of a senior Russian general and his aide in an electric scooter bombing. .
Akhmadzhon Kurbonov was ordered held until at least February 17 in Tuesday’s bombing that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, state news agency Tass reported.
Kurbonov was charged with the murders, carrying out a terrorist act and illegally manufacturing explosives, the news agency said.
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Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his Moscow apartment building, a day after the Ukrainian security service filed criminal charges against him. His assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, was also murdered.
Kurbonov, previously called Achmad Kurbanov by news agencies, was detained by Russian security services on Wednesday. Shortly after he was arrested, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which did not identify him, said he was born in 1995 and recruited by the Ukrainian security service. The Associated Press could not confirm the circumstances under which the suspect spoke to the FSB.
The suspect said he was promised $100,000 and resettlement in a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov, the FSB said.
According to the agency, the suspect, on instructions from Ukraine, picked up a homemade bomb in Moscow, placed it on an e-scooter and parked it at the entrance to Kirillov’s apartment building.
He rented a car to monitor the site and set up a camera that livestreamed the scene to his handlers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the FSB said, detonating the bomb as Kirillov left the building.
Kirillov, 54, was the head of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces. The special forces are charged with protecting the military against the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment.
He was under sanctions by several countries, including Britain and Canada, for his actions during Russia’s massive invasion of 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 denied the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and accused Kiev of using toxic substances in the fight.
An SBU official told AP on Tuesday that the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, described Kirillov as a “war criminal and a completely legitimate target.”
