A Russian general in charge of radiation, chemical and biological protection forces has been killed in an explosion in Moscow, the country’s investigative committee has said.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, which starts some 7 km (4.35 miles) south-east of the Kremlin.
The explosion was caused by a device hidden inside an electric scooter, according to the committee. His assistant was also killed, it said.
The report comes a day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged the general with using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Post.
The UK placed sanctions on Kirillov, who had been in his post since 2017, in October this year for using riot control agents and multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin in Ukraine.
Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the snow.
Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defence troops, known as RKhBZ, are special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination.
A criminal investigation has been opened in connection with the deaths.
Investigators and forensic experts were working at the scene together with employees of other emergency services, Russian news agency Tass reported.
