Kirillov killed a few days after Mikhail Shatsky. The role of Russian collaborators and Putin’s revenge

Igor Kirillov54, was a key man for the Kremlin. It is the second political murder in a few days and now Putin fears that there are pro-Ukrainian Russian collaborators who carried out the attack. Medvedev promises equally surgical revenge.

The “scientist” Kirillov

Kirillov, since 2017 was head of the troops dealing with nuclear weapons, i.e special forces dedicated to “radioactive, chemical and biological contamination”. The chairman of the lower house of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, observed a minute’s silence for the general and described him as «not only a military leader, but first and foremost a scientist». Kirillov had been instrumental in coordinating logistical efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

«Shock. Irreparable loss», wrote Konstantin Kosachev, vice-president of the upper house, on his Telegram channel. «The murderers will be punished. Without a doubt and without mercy».

The assassins are Ukrainian and conducted one of the boldest operations seen on Russian soil so far. Kiev officials said that the murder was a special operation of the Security Service of Ukrainethe SBU. It is the second political murder in the space of a few days: the last to be shot dead in the street is a cruise missile designer: Mikhail Shatsky.

Russian authorities classified Kirillov’s death as a terrorist act.

Medvedev: «Inevitable punishment»

After the explosion, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Kiev was trying to “prolong war and death” and promised “inevitable punishment,” according to state news agency TASS. «Law enforcement agencies must find the killers in Russia and everything possible must be done to destroy those who ordered it and who are in Kiev», Medvedev said, blaming Ukraine’s military and political leadership for the attack.

Kirillov helped develop a thermobaric rocket launcher, the TOS-2.

Russian state television broadcast the murder as the top story of the day’s news, calling it a “tragedy.”

Explosion in Moscow, Kirillov, head of nuclear defense troops, dead

Use of chemical weapons, accusations crossed

On Monday, a day before his murder, the SBU had named Kirillov as suspect in war crimes investigation, on charges of ordering the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. «By order of Kirillov, since the beginning of the war they have been registered more than 4,800 cases of enemy use of chemical weapons», the service said.

Russia has denied US accusations that it violated the ban chemical weapons in Ukraine. While in October, the UK sanctioned Kirillov for overseeing the use of “barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine”. “Russia’s cruel and inhumane tactics on the battlefield are abhorrent and I will use the full arsenal of powers at my disposal to combat Russia’s malign activities,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said at the time. For the UK he was a “major spokesperson for Kremlin disinformation” and spread lies to disguise Russia’s behaviour.

The early morning attack on Tuesday was captured on video, apparently shot from a vehicle parked nearby. The footage shows two people exiting a building and a scooter parked just outside. Moments later, an explosion obscures the camera’s view.

In 2022, Kirillov had said that Kiev may detonate a dirty bomb and attribute its actions to Russian aggression. Kiev has denied any such plans.