Uzbek national arrested over Moscow bombing that kills general, Russian security forces say
Russia’s security service said on Wednesday it had arrested a suspect in the assassination of a major general in Moscow.
The suspect was described as an Uzbek national recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, did not release the suspect’s name, but said he was born in 1995. According to the FSB statement, the suspect claimed to have been recruited by Ukrainian special forces.
Lt.-Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed on Tuesday by a bomb hidden on a scooter outside his Moscow apartment building, a day after Ukrainian security forces filed criminal charges. His assistant also died in the attack. The Ukrainian official said that the ministry was the one who attacked.
The FSB said the suspect was promised a $100,000 reward and permission to move to a European Union country to kill Kirillov.
Russia has vowed to take revenge after a general was killed early in the morning in a residential area of Moscow. Ukrainian intelligence services say they are responsible.
The agency said, following instructions from Ukraine, the suspect went to Moscow, where he took home-made explosives. He then put it on an electric scooter and parked it at the entrance of the apartment building where Kirillov lived.
The explosion was broadcast live
The suspect then hired a car to monitor the area and set up a camera that broadcast live images from the crime scene to his captors in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. When Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb.
According to the FSB statement, the suspect faces “life imprisonment.”
Kirillov, 54, was an officer in the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces and was under sanctions from several countries, including the UK and Canada, over his actions in Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. On Monday, Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and, in turn, has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in the war.
Kirillov, who took up his current job in 2017, was one of the most senior figures to weigh in on those allegations. He has held numerous forums accusing the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning a radioactive attack – claims Ukraine and its Western allies dismiss as propaganda.
The bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was detonated remotely, according to Russian news reports. Photos from the scene showed broken windows and burnt bricks.
Russia’s top investigative unit says it is treating Kirillov’s death as a case of terrorism, and Moscow officials have vowed to punish Ukraine.
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