Russia's security service said on Wednesday it had detained a suspect. Killing of Senior General In Moscow
The suspect was described as an Uzbek national recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.
Lt. Gen Igor Kirillov He was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow on Tuesday, a day after Ukraine's security service filed criminal charges against him. His aide was also killed in the attack. A Ukrainian official said the attack was carried out by the service.
Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, did not name the suspect, but said he was born in 1995. According to an FSB statement, the suspect himself said he was recruited by Ukrainian special services. The AP cannot confirm the circumstances under which the suspect spoke to security services.
The suspect was offered a $100,000 reward and permission to travel to an EU country in exchange for killing Kirillov, the FSB said.
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Acting on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect traveled to Moscow, where he picked up a homemade explosive device, the agency said. He placed the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the door of the apartment building where Kirillov lived.
The suspect then rented a car to monitor the location and set up a camera that streamed the scene live to his handlers in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Once Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb. The FSB said the suspect faces up to life in prison.
The suspect was detained in a village in the Moscow region, according to Irina Volk, an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, according to the official Russian news agency TASS.
Kirillov, 54, headed the military's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces and was under sanctions from several countries, including Britain and Canada, for his actions in Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia has denied using chemical weapons in Ukraine and accused Kiev of using toxic agents in the war.
Krylov, who took up his current job in 2017, was one of the most high-profile figures to level the allegations. He has held numerous briefings accusing the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning to launch attacks with radioactive materials – claims that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as propaganda.
An SBU official said on Tuesday that the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, called Kirillov “a war criminal and a completely legitimate target.”
The SBU official provided video of what he said was the bombing. It shows two people exiting a building as an explosion fills the frame.
Russia's top state investigative agency said it was treating Kirillov's death as a case of terrorism, and officials in Moscow vowed to punish Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was “clear” that Ukraine was behind Krylov's murder. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kiev “does not desist from terrorist methods.”
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Ilya Novokov contributed to this report from Kiev, Ukraine.
and copy 2024 Canadian Press