1 of 2 | A view of a scene outside an apartment building in Moscow, Russia, where on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed in an explosion. Photo by Yuri Kotchetkov/EPA-EFE
An explosive device planted near an apartment building in Moscow detonated early Tuesday, killing Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces head, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
The explosive device had been hidden in an electric scooter near the entrance of the residential building on Moscow’s Ryazansky Avenue when it detonated. Advertisement
The ensuing explosion killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov and his unidentified assistant, the committee said.
“Investigators, forensics and operational services are working at the scene,” Russia’s Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement. “Investigative actions and operational and search activities aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime are being carried out.”
A second statement from the committee said a criminal case has been launched into the deaths of the two servicemen on the grounds of murder, terrorism and illegal trafficking in weapons and ammunition.
Kyiv’s Security Services had a day earlier charged Kirillov in absentia with war crimes over Russia’s use of chemical weapons in its war against Ukraine.
According to agency, Ukraine has document more than 4,800 cases of Russia using chemical weapons under Kirillov’s orders. Advertisement
Since the war began on Feb. 24, 2022, more than 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers have received treatment for various degrees of chemical poisoning, it said.
“The occupiers use dangerous chemicals mainly in the hottest areas of hostilities, where they try to hide the use of chemicals under heavy artillery fire,” the Security Services said in a statement.
Following the explosion, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova praised Kirillov on Telegram for his years of work to “expose” the chemical weapon crimes of NATO and other debunked conspiracy theories.
“He worked fearlessly. He did not hide behind others. He faced everything head-on. For the Motherland, for the truth,” she said.
