To Moscow, “The commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, and his assistant were killed” Tuesday December 17, 2024 in the explosion of a device, announced the Russian Investigative Committee, which opened an investigation for “assassination”, “attack” and “arms trafficking”.
General Kirillov, 54, is the most senior Russian military official known to have been killed since the start of the Russian offensive against its neighbor Ukraine in February 2022. The unit he led does not deal with the nuclear arsenal held by Russia.
Trapped scooter
The assassination of Igor Kirillov in the Russian capital was immediately claimed by the Ukrainian security services (SBU). It’s“is a special operation of the SBU”confirmed a source within the Ukrainian security services.
According to Russian investigators, the explosive device was a booby-trapped scooter parked near the entrance to a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow.
The windows of several apartments were broken by the explosion, and a cordon of police was deployed in the surrounding area. The entrance to the building was heavily damaged.
Sanctioned for “deployment of chemical weapons”
General Kirillov was the one who “spoke, during his briefings, about American biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine”of which Moscow accuses Washington, recalls the newspaper Kommersant on his site.
In office since April 2017, Igor Kirillov was sanctioned in October by the United Kingdom for “deployment of barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine”.
On Monday, on the eve of the general’s assassination, the SBU accused him, in a press release, of being responsible for“massive use of chemical weapons” against Ukrainian forces.
Since February 2022, more than 4,800 use cases of “chemical munitions” by the Russian army have been identified, assured the SBU, according to which “more than 2,000 soldiers” Ukrainians required hospitalization with varying degrees of chemical poisoning over the same period.
Minute of silence
Russian authorities have repeatedly rejected these accusations, calling them“absurd”.
“Attempts to intimidate our people, stop the advance of the Russian army and sow fear are doomed to failure,” reacted former president Dmitri Medvedev, current vice-president of the Russian Security Council.
A minute of silence was observed in the Duma, the lower house of Parliament. “The murderers will be punished, without doubt and without mercy”promised Konstantin Kosachev, vice-president of the Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament.
