Russia reports that a person suspected of the murder of a high-ranking general has been detained in Moscow – Milli
The Russian Security Service said on Wednesday that it has detained a suspect in the incident the assassination of a high-ranking general in Moscow.
The suspect is reportedly an Uzbek citizen recruited by Ukrainian special services.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov He was killed by a bomb hidden on a scooter outside his Moscow building on Tuesday, a day after Ukrainian security services filed criminal charges against him. His assistant was also killed during the attack. The Ukrainian official said that the attack was carried out by the service.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, did not release the suspect’s name, but said he was born in 1995. AP cannot confirm under what conditions the suspect spoke to the security services.
The FSB said that the suspect was promised a reward of 100,000 dollars and permission to move to one of the countries of the European Union in exchange for killing Kirillov.
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The agency reports that the suspect went to Moscow on instructions from Ukraine and took an improvised explosive device from there. He put the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the entrance to the apartment building where Kirillov lives.
The suspect then rented a car to monitor the location and set up a camera that broadcast the scene live to his handlers in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. As soon as Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb. The FSB said that the suspect faces a life sentence.
Russian state news agency TASS reports that the official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irina Volk, said that the suspect was detained in one of the villages of the Moscow region.
Kirillov, 54, was the head of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical defense forces and was under sanctions from a number of countries, including Britain and Canada, for his actions in Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, opened a criminal case against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia denies using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and accuses Kiev of using toxic substances in the fighting.
Kirillov, who began his current job in 2017, was one of the most high-profile individuals to raise the allegations. He has held numerous briefings to accuse Ukraine’s military of using poison and carrying out radioactive attacks – claims that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as propaganda.
An SBU official said Tuesday that the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, called Kirillov “a war criminal and a perfectly legitimate target.”
SBU official presented the video about the explosion. It shows two people leaving the building just before the explosion fills the frame.
Russia’s top state investigative agency said it was investigating Kirillov’s death as a terrorist attack, and Moscow officials vowed to punish Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was “obvious” that Ukraine was behind Kirillov’s murder. Press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Kiev “does not shy away from terrorist methods”.
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Ilya Novikov contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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