Russia detains suspect in assassination of nuclear protection forces chief in Moscow

ISTANBUL

Russia's federal security agency on Wednesday apprehended an Uzbek national suspected of assassinating Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the country's Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Defense Forces, in Moscow.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), working with the Interior Ministry and the Investigative Committee, identified and detained an Uzbek citizen born in 1995, state news agency Tass reported, citing the FSB's Public Relations Center.

The FSB handed over the accused to Russia’s Investigative Committee, it said, adding that the suspect admitted that Ukrainian special services recruited him and was promised $100,000 and a European passport.


It further said that the suspect admitted he bought the scooter involved in the killing several months earlier and then received components to make a homemade bomb a few months later.

Separately, Interior Minister Irina Volk said on Telegram that the suspect was arrested in the village of Chernoe in the Moscow region.

Commenting on Kirillov's death, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in a news conference in Moscow that the subject will be brought up at a UN Security Council meeting requested by Moscow on Dec. 20.


Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the relevant services in the country are working to clarify the details behind the incident.

"Of course, we know who ordered this terrorist attack, and we are fighting those who ordered it," he said, adding that they will continue to fight Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Kirillov and his assistant were killed in an explosion on Moscow's Ryazansky Prospekt.

Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said the explosion was caused by explosives planted on a scooter near the entrance of an apartment building in the area.

She went on to say that the committee has launched criminal investigations into the attack, later reporting that it has been classified as a "terrorist attack."

Multiple Ukrainian media outlets, including state news agency Ukrinform, citing sources, said Kirillov was killed as part of a "special operation" by Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU).

However, Ukrainian authorities have not officially taken responsibility for the assassination.

Kirillov's killing also came a day after the SBU charged him in absentia with ordering the "use of chemical weapons against Ukraine's Defense Forces."