A high-ranking general in the Russian armed forces and his assistant have been killed in an explosion in Moscow.
Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was leaving a residential block early on Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter exploded, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
The device was detonated remotely, state news agency Tass has quoted the Russian operational services as saying.
In October, the UK placed sanctions on Kirillov, saying he had overseen the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and acted as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.
Pictures from the scene showed the entrance to a building badly damaged, with scorch marks on the walls and a number of windows blown out. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.
On Monday, Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, charged Kirillov in absentia, saying on Telegram he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”.
The SBU has claimed Russia used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s leadership.
Moscow denies the allegations.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had “opened a criminal case into the murder of two servicemen”.
“Investigators, forensic experts and operational services are working at the scene,” it said.
“Investigative actions and operational search activities are being carried out aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime.”
They added that bomb experts and specialist search dogs had inspected the surrounding area and no other explosives had been found.
Under UK sanctions, Kirillov was subject to an assets freeze and travel ban, with the Foreign Office describing him as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.
In May, the US accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons as a “method of warfare” in Ukraine, in violation of international laws banning their use.
State Department officials said Russia used the choking agent chloropicrin to win “battlefield gains” over Ukraine.
Ukrainian Col Artem Vlasiuk had previously said that more than 2,000 Ukrainian service members have been treated in hospital for chemical poisoning over the course of the war and three people have died.
The Kremlin rejected the accusations at the time, calling them “baseless”.
Kirillov served in different roles in Russia’s military associated with hazardous materials, including the Directorate of the Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops.
According to the SBU, Russian forces drop chemical weapons on Ukrainian soldiers with drones.
He was appointed head of the NBC in 2017.
BBC
