A 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan has been detained in Moscow in connection with the assassination of General Igor Kirillov, according to Russia’s security service.
Russian state agency TASS reported on Wednesday that the suspect was allegedly recruited by Ukrainian intelligence. On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) claimed responsibility for the general’s death.
Kirillov, who headed Russia’s military nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed in an explosion outside an apartment building. The remotely detonated device, hidden in an electric scooter, was used in the attack.
The assassination occurred a day after the SBU opened a criminal investigation against Kirillov, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons. A source within the SBU, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on releasing such information, referred to Kirillov as a “war criminal and an entirely legitimate target.”
