Moscow detains suspect over Russian senior general bomb assassination

CNN reports that Russian authorities have detained a 29-year-old Uzbek man in relation to the death of senior Russian general Igor Kirillov.

According to a statement by the Russian Investigative Committee, cited by CNN, the Uzbek man would have been recruited by Ukraine's spy agency to assassinate Kirillov with a homemade explosive.

Supposedly, the suspected assassin would have been promised a payment of 100,000 US dollars, plus residence in an unspecified country.

Reuters reported on December 17 that one of Russia’s top generals was assassinated in Moscow using a bomb hidden in an electric scooter.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov served as the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops and was accused by Kyiv of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.

CNN writes that Kirillov’s body was found, along with his assistant’s, outside an apartment building after an explosion that the Kremlin has labeled as a “terrorist act”.

More alarmingly, the attack occurred in Ryazansky Prospekt, only 4 miles (7 kilometers) from the walls of the Kremlin.

An anonymous source close to the operation told CNN that Ukraine’s intelligence services were behind the assassination.

“Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target, as he gave orders to use banned chemical substances against the Ukrainian military”, the source told CNN. “Retribution for war crimes is inevitable.”

CNN writes that the attack on Kirillov happened one day after the prosecution of Ukraine charged him in absentia for the use of banned chemical weapons in the battlefield.

According to Reuters, the British government-imposed sanctions on Kirillov back in October for using toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield, among other things.

CNN cites numbers from the Ukrainian Security Services, which claims over 4,800 cases of Russian troops using chemical munitions on Kirrilov’s orders.

The Russian government, which began a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine in February 2022, has denied the use of chemical weapons against Kyiv troops.

Reuters writes that Russia accuses Ukraine of carrying a series of assassinations within its borders, most notably the 2022 killing of Daria Dugina, daughter of Russian ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

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