Senior Russian army official killed by scooter explosion in Moscow

A senior Russian army official was killed in an explosion this Tuesday morning near a residential building in the southeast of Moscow, says the Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country. .

“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 press release.

“The commander of the Russian radionuclear, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, and his deputy were killed,” adds the same source, while a “criminal investigation” has been opened.

Sanctioned by the United Kingdom

Igor Kirillov, in office since 2017, was sanctioned last October by the United Kingdom for “deploying barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine”.

The day before this assassination, Monday, 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” on the entire front at the end. of this “pivotal year”.