Russia claims Uzbek national offered $100m to kill top general
Russia has claimed that an Uzbek national arrested for assassinating the head of the Russian army’s chemical weapons unit in Moscow was offered £78,650 by Ukrainian special forces.
The 29-year-old suspect is accused of placing a powerful improvised explosive device on an electric scooter outside Lt Gen Igor Kirillov’s home, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
The assassination plot allegedly involved a camera set up in a rental car that broadcast live footage to a Ukrainian intelligence control centre in Dnipro.
The attack, which took place before dawn on Tuesday, killed both Kirillov and his assistant when the explosive was detonated as they left the apartment block.
In an FSB interrogation video, the handcuffed suspect said he had been promised “$100,000 and a European passport” by Ukrainian special forces.
The man, wearing a torn jacket, claimed he arrived in Moscow on Ukrainian instructions and bought a scooter before waiting “a few months” for the bomb to arrive.
Investigators said a Ukrainian SBU intelligence agent “remotely activated” the explosive device from a control centre in Dnipro.
However, the suspect’s confession appeared to contradict the official statement, as he claimed to have triggered the explosive himself.
LATEST WORLD NEWS:
- British student stabbed to death in Amsterdam was ‘happy-go-lucky wanting to enjoy his life’
- Pope Francis targeted by double suicide bomber terror plot
- Mystery drones spotted over UK and US bases could be from ‘Russian sleeper agents’
It is unclear under which conditions the confession was obtained.
Kirillov was the highest-ranking military commander to be assassinated by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service during the conflict.
The SBU has been conducting a sophisticated assassination campaign throughout the nearly three-year war in Ukraine.
Their operations have resulted in the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian collaborators, Russian military officers, Kremlin propagandists and scientists.
These killings have taken place both within Russia and in occupied areas of Ukraine.
Russian authorities said they arrested the Uzbek suspect in Moscow’s Balashikha district, just miles from Ryazansky Prospekt where Kirillov was killed.
Uzbekistan has stated it has no information about the suspect identified by Russia’s FSB.
Kirillov served as the head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces and had been branded a war criminal by Ukraine just a day before his death, accusing him of authorising the use of tear gas and other chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers.
He was also known for his role as a Kremlin propaganda spokesman and made accusations against the United States, claiming they had established secret chemical weapons factories in Georgia and Ukraine.
These allegations were dismissed by Washington as “fake lies”.