Russia arrests suspect ‘who planted scooter bomb that killed chemical weapons’ and claims he was offered $100,000 and new life in Europe
A key suspect has been arrested during the hunt for the killers of a leading Russian general in Moscow.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, in charge of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological defense forces, was killed in a bomb attack on Tuesday as he emerged from his apartment building.
Russia’s FSB has arrested a citizen of Uzbekistan, born in 1995, “suspected of committing a terrorist act that killed Igor Kirillov,” according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
He had been promised $100,000 and a future life in an unnamed European country, it was claimed.
The suspect is accused of causing the explosion from his home in the Moscow region, while his taskmasters watched from Dnipro in Ukraine via a live camera hidden in a car at the scene.
His identity was discovered during a joint operation by the FSB (Federal Security Service), the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the FSB said.
The detainee left a scooter – containing an improvised explosive device – at the entrance to the apartment block where Kirillov lived, according to media outlet Mash.
A second suspect organized the delivery of a car-sharing vehicle to the site within which a Wi-Fi camera secretly monitored the door, allowing the bomb to detonate remotely when Kirillov and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, 33, appeared.
Both men died instantly.
Russia’s FSB has arrested a citizen of Uzbekistan, born in 1995, “suspected of committing a terrorist act that killed Igor Kirillov,” according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
Investigators work near a scooter at the site where Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical forces, and his aide Ilya Polikarpov were killed by an explosive device
We see the general and his assistant leaving the apartment seconds before the deadly explosion
The explosion erupted seconds after the general left his apartment
Kirillov had served as head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces since 2017
Bodies are seen at the site of the blast, which killed the commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ Chemical, Biological and Radiation Defense Forces, Igor Kirillov, and his assistant.
The Russian Investigative Committee and the FSB issued a lengthy statement following the arrest and interrogation of the Uzbek suspect.
“During the interrogation, he explained that he had been recruited by the Ukrainian special services.
‘On their instructions, he arrived in Moscow and received an improvised explosive device.
“He placed him on an electric scooter, which he parked at the entrance of the apartment building where Igor Kirillov lived.
‘To keep an eye on the soldier’s home, he rented a car-sharing car, where he installed a video surveillance camera.
‘The images from this camera were broadcast online to the organizers of the terrorist attack in the city of Dnipro.
‘After the video signal of the soldiers leaving the entrance, he detonated the explosive remotely.
“Ukrainian agents of the special services involved in the organization of the terrorist act will be found and punished,” the security service promised.
The main suspect was detained in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha district of the Moscow region.
According to media reports, a second man was also arrested for allegedly parking the car containing the live feed camera, but this was not confirmed in official reports.
The second suspect may have been used ‘blindly’, unaware that he was involved in a Ukrainian plot to assassinate one of Vladimir Putin’s most prominent generals, Mash reported.
“The suspects have been traced from the crime scene, where surveillance cameras captured two suspicious cars,” the Kommersant newspaper reported.
“The organizers contacted the men via instant messengers and gave them the contact details of (an agent) from the SBU (Ukrainian Security Service).”
It is understood the bomb was hidden in an electric scooter when it exploded
Two body bags are seen after the bomb was detonated outside the Moscow apartment
Two bodies can be seen as bystanders watch emergency services on the scene
Footage from the aftermath of the explosion shows a destroyed car as emergency services rushed to the scene
The daring bombing in the capital Moscow shocked Russians, some of whom left the scene of the killing in tribute to the late general and his aide.
The SBU insisted that Kirillov was a legitimate target and accused him of masterminding the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in a message to Kirillov’s relatives, promised “imminent retaliation” for the perpetrators “including the highest military and political leaders of the disappearing country (Ukraine).”
Now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and a close Putin acolyte, he said at a meeting aimed at increasing military supplies for the war: ‘Our colleague and comrade Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed in a terrorist attack.
“He was a military commander, dedicated to his duty and his oath.
‘All of us at the table knew him as a very good professional and as a decent and responsible person.
“Despite the fact that the investigation has only just begun, our enemies have already rushed to publish information about their involvement.
“But in any case, law enforcement agencies must track down the killers in Russia. And every effort must be made to destroy those who ordered this and who are in Kiev.
“These customers are also known, they form the military-political leadership of Ukraine… The work of the defense industry should not be relaxed in any way.”