Moscow arrests suspect in Igor Kirillov assassination

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A suspect has been arrested on suspicion of assassinating top Russian general Igor Kirillov, who died alongside his assistant when a bomb planted on a scooter exploded outside his house in Moscow on Tuesday.

The FSB, Russia’s main security agency, said on Wednesday it had arrested an Uzbek man who had placed the bomb on the scooter, then detonated it remotely.

It added that the suspect had placed a camera in a rented car to film the bombing.

The FSB published a video of the suspect, who said he had bought the scooter several months in advance.

The suspect said in the video that Ukrainian intelligence had offered him $100,000 and a “European passport” to carry out the attack.

Kirillov, the head of the military’s nuclear, chemical and biological defence forces, is the most senior Russian official to be assassinated since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The bombing is the most brazen in a string of assassinations of senior Russian officers carried out deep behind enemy lines.

The Kremlin said Putin had expressed his “deepest condolences”, adding that Russia’s secret services were “effectively” investigating the murder.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, told reporters on Wednesday that the assassination “once again” showed Russia’s actions against Ukraine were “right”, according to state newswire RIA Novosti.

Hardline officials have called on Russia to respond to Kirillov’s death by targeting senior Ukrainian officials.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former stand-in for Putin who is now his deputy on Russia’s security council, called on security officials to “destroy the people behind it in Kyiv”.

Kirillov was hit with UK sanctions in October “for the deployment of barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine”, including the toxic choking agent chloropicrin.

The SBU, one of Ukraine’s security services, issued a “notice of suspicion” — essentially a warrant — for Kirillov a day before the attack over alleged “war crimes committed” against Kyiv’s forces using chemical weapons.

Kirillov was also known for public briefings in which he accused Ukraine of plotting to use chemical weapons and launching US-designed drones carrying “infected mosquitoes” to spread malaria among Russia’s forces.