Man arrested for alleged involvement in murder of head of Russia’s nuclear protection forces

The FSB claims that the suspect, an Uzbek national, acted on instructions from the Ukrainian special services

Dec. 18 () –

The Russian authorities announced this Wednesday the arrest of a citizen of Uzbekistan for his alleged responsibility in the bomb attack perpetrated on Tuesday in the capital, Moscow, in which the head of the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops of Russia was killed. Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, and one of his assistants.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has indicated that the arrest has taken place “as a result of operational and investigative measures by the Ministry of the Interior and the Russian Investigative Committee”, before adding that the man is suspected of placing of the explosive in front of Kirillov’s home.

“The person responsible for this terrorist attack has indicated that he was recruited by the Ukrainian special services. Following their instructions, he arrived in Moscow, received a high-powered homemade explosive and placed it on an electric scooter that he parked near the entrance of the Kirillov’s house,” he said.

Likewise, he highlighted that he also “obtained a rental car and installed a video camera with WiFi inside to monitor the direction of the soldier,” before adding that the content of the recording “was transmitted over the Internet to the organizers (of the attack) in the city of Dnipro, in Ukraine.”

“After receiving the video signal about the departure of the officers, the explosive was activated by remote control,” he stressed, before adding that the Ukrainian special services promised the man 100,000 dollars (around 95,180 euros) and residence in a country of the European Union (EU)”.

The FSB has indicated that the man, whose identity has not been revealed, has been taken into custody and has specified that “he is exposed to a sentence of life imprisonment for all the crimes committed.” “The officers of the Ukrainian special services involved in organizing this terrorist attack will be found and will receive the punishment they deserve,” he stressed.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the Ukrainian special services, according to sources from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) cited by the Ukrainian news agencies Ukrinform and UNIAN, who have stated that Kirillov “was a war criminal and a target totally legitimate.”

The attack, which Moscow is investigating as a case of terrorism, was carried out a day after the SBU charged Kirillov for his alleged responsibility in the use of chemical weapons in the country within the framework of the invasion, unleashed in February 2022. by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since 2017, Kirillov has headed the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, in charge of combating the effects of nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weapons, generally known as weapons of mass destruction, and also of civil security operations in case of nuclear, bacteriological, chemical or environmental accident.