A high-ranking general in the Russian army was killed on Tuesday December 17 in Moscow in the explosion of a bomb hidden in an electric scooter, as was his assistant, who was at his side.
A senior Russian army official was killed in an explosion this Tuesday morning near a residential building in the southeast of Moscow, announced the Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country.
A criminal investigation into assassinations
“An explosive device placed in a scooter parked near the entrance to a residential building was activated on the morning of December 17 on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow,” the committee said in a statement.
“The commander of the Russian nuclear, chemical and biological radio defense forces, Igor Kirillov, and his deputy were killed” following the explosion, according to the same source.
The entrance to the building was seriously damaged and the windows of several apartments were broken, according to images published by Russian media.
“A criminal investigation into the assassination of the two soldiers in Moscow has been opened,” according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
Investigators were dispatched to the scene and examinations are underway to establish “all the circumstances” of the incident, according to the same source.
Sanctioned by London for “deployment of barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine”
In office since April 2017, Igor Kirillov was sanctioned in October by the United Kingdom for “deploying barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine”.
His assassination comes in the middle of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, underway since February 2022.
On Monday, December 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin took stock of the fighting in Ukraine for the year 2024, welcoming the pace of the advance of his troops and having “the initiative” across the entire front. resulting from this “pivotal year”.
