Russia says the suspect in the killing of General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s chemical weapons unit, has been arrested

Moscow The Russian Security Service announced on Wednesday that it had arrested a suspect in the killing of a senior general in a bomb explosion in Moscow. The suspect was described as an Uzbek national who the agency said had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.

Ukrainian security sources told CBS News on Monday that the Ukrainian Security Service was behind the attack An explosion led to the death of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov. The claim could not be independently verified, but Russian officials quickly vowed revenge against Ukraine’s leaders.

The Russian Federal Security Service did not name the suspect, but said he was born in 1995. According to a statement issued by the FSB, the suspect said he was recruited by Ukrainian special services.

A knowledgeable source in the State Security Service confirmed to CBS News that “Kirillov was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target, because he issued orders to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military.” “Such a shameful end awaits anyone who kills Ukrainians. Revenge for war crimes is inevitable.”

Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden in an electric motorcycle outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after the Ukrainian Security Service brought criminal charges against him. His assistant also died in the attack.

The Federal Security Service said that the suspect was promised a reward of $100,000 and permission to move to a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov. It added that on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect traveled to Moscow, where he picked up a homemade explosive device. Then he put the device on an electric motorcycle and parked it at the entrance to the apartment building where Kirillov lived.

The suspect then rented a car to monitor the site and set up a camera that broadcast live video from the scene to those responsible for it in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine. When Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb.

According to a statement by the Federal Security Service, the suspect faces “punishment of up to life imprisonment.”

Kirillov (54 years old) was commander of the Russian army’s radiological, biological and chemical protection forces. Kirillov himself or his military unit has been sanctioned by several countries, including the United States, Britain and Canada, over the alleged use of chemical weapons. On the battlefield in Ukraine. On Monday, the Ukrainian Security Service opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.

Ukraine’s security service said it had recorded more than 4,800 occasions when Russia used chemical weapons on the battlefield since President Vladimir Putin launched his massive invasion in February 2022. In May, the US State Department said Announced penalties against Kirillov’s unit, saying that the United States had recorded the use of chloropicrin, a poison gas first deployed in World War I, against Ukrainian forces.

Russia denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine, and in turn accused Kiev of using toxic materials in the fighting, and Kirillov was allegedly behind the spread of that propaganda.

The US government accused Kirillov, who has been in office since April 2017, of helping spread disinformation about biological weapons and research.

In March 2023, about a year later The Russian invasion is widespreadthe The US State Department said Kirillov had “significantly increased his media engagement” to make repeated, unsubstantiated claims that the US government was involved in the creation of both the smallpox virus and Covid-19, and that the US was “developing biological weapons capable of selectively targeting ethnic groups.” .

“The United States government is concerned that this false narrative may be a prelude to an attack False flag operationThe State Department said at the time that Russia itself was using biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine, then trying to shift the blame to Ukraine and/or the United States.

Russian news reports said the bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was detonated remotely. Pictures from the scene showed smashed windows and burned bricks.

Russia’s top government investigative agency said it was looking into Kirillov’s death as a terrorist case, and officials in Moscow vowed to punish Ukraine.