The Russian Investigative Committee announced Wednesday the arrest of an Uzbek national, suspected of being involved in the assassination of Russian general Igor Kirillov, who died the day before in Moscow in a bomb attack claimed by Kyiv.
• Also read: Chemical weapons in Ukraine: multiple presumptions against Moscow, but little evidence
• Also read: Russia: a senior army official killed in an attack claimed by Kyiv
• Also read: Kyiv accuses Moscow of torturing Ukrainian mayor to death
“A national of Uzbekistan, born in 1995, was arrested on suspicion of having committed the attack which cost the lives of the commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, and his assistant Ilia Polikarpov” , the committee said in a press release.
During interrogation, the suspect claimed to have been “recruited by the Ukrainian special services”, according to the same source.
At their request, he arrived in Moscow and was given an explosive device which he placed on an electric scooter parked near the building where General Kirillov resided, the statement said.
The suspect also rented a car which was also parked near the building and where a surveillance camera was installed, investigators explain.
The video filmed by this camera was transmitted “in real time to the organizers of the attack, towards the city of Dnipro”, in Ukraine, according to the same source.
As soon as the general and his assistant left the building, the explosive device was activated remotely by the suspect, the statement said.
For this attack, the perpetrator was promised “remuneration of 100,000 American dollars” and the possibility of moving to “one of the European countries”, he assures.
General Kirillov, 54, sanctioned in October by London for the alleged deployment of chemical weapons in Ukraine, is the most senior Russian military official known to have been killed since the start of the Russian offensive against its Ukrainian neighbor in February 2022 .
His assassination was immediately claimed on Tuesday in Kyiv by a source within the Ukrainian security services (SBU) who accused the general of “war crimes” on Monday.
