Moscow — Russian security services announced Wednesday that they had arrested a suspect in the murder of a high-ranking general in Moscow.
The suspect was described as an Uzbek citizen recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, did not name the suspect, but said he was born in 1995. According to an FSB statement, the suspect said he was recruited by Ukraine’s special services.
Ukrainian security sources told CBS News on Monday that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) killed Kirillov during a special operation. This claim could not be independently verified, but Russian officials quickly vowed revenge on Ukraine’s leaders.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target, since he gave the order to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian army,” an informed SBU source told CBS News. “Such an inglorious end awaits anyone who kills Ukrainians. Retaliation for war crimes is inevitable.
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Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter in front of his building in Moscow, a day after Ukrainian security services filed a complaint against him. His assistant also died in the attack. A Ukrainian official said it was the service that carried out the attack.
The FSB said the suspect was promised a $100,000 reward and permission to move to a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov.
The agency said that, acting on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect traveled to Moscow, where he recovered an improvised explosive device. He then placed the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the entrance to the residential building where Kirillov lived.
The suspect then rented a car to monitor the scene and installed a camera that broadcast live footage of the scene to his handlers in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine. Once Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb.
According to the FSB press release, the suspect faces “a sentence of up to life imprisonment”.
Kirillov, 54, was the head of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces and was subject to sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. On Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia has denied using chemical weapons in Ukraine and accused kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.
Kirillov, who took up his current position in 2017, was one of the most high-profile figures to make these accusations. He has held numerous briefings accusing the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning attacks with radioactive substances – claims that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as propaganda.
The bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was detonated remotely, according to Russian media. Images from the scene showed broken windows and burned bricks.
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Russia’s top state investigative agency said it was investigating Kirillov’s death as a case of terrorism, and Moscow officials vowed to punish Ukraine.