Russia announces the arrest of an Uzbek suspect “recruited by Ukrainian special services”

The suspect, aged 29, was promised “remuneration of 100,000 US dollars” and the possibility of moving to “one of the European countries”, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.

Russia announced on Wednesday December 18 the arrest of an Uzbek national suspected of being involved in the assassination of Russian general Igor Kirillov, killed Tuesday in Moscow in a bomb attack claimed by Ukraine. For this attack, the perpetrator was promised “a remuneration of 100 000 US dollars” and a possibility of moving away “in one of the European countries”according to investigators.

During interrogation, the suspect, born in 1995, claimed to have been “recruited by the Ukrainian special services”according to the Russian Investigative Committee. 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 the elderly commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense forces resided. 54 years old.

The suspect also rented a car, parked on the street of the building, in which a surveillance camera was installed. The video filmed by this camera was broadcast “in real time to the organizers of the attack, towards the city of Dnipro”in Ukraine, according to the Investigative Committee. As soon as the general and his assistant left the building, the explosive device was activated remotely by the suspect, this source suggests.

The suspect risks “sentences up to life imprisonment” for “assassination”, “attack” and “arms trafficking”, said the Russian Security Service (FSB). “The agents of the Ukrainian special services, involved in the organization of the attack, will be found and duly punished”he assured.