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Blast In Moscow Kills General Charged With Chemical Weapon Use In Ukraine

By RFE/RL's Russian Service December 17, 2024

A high-ranking officer in charge of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops (RKhBZ) has been killed in an explosion in Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee said.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed by a bomb concealed in a scooter outside the entrance of a Moscow building early on December 17, the committee said in a statement, adding that an investigation has been opened.

The incident occurred a day after Ukraine's SBU security service reported that Ukrainian prosecutors filed a charge against Kirillov, accusing him of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops during the war started by Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The investigative committee said the explosion occurred outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, an avenue in the Russian capital which starts some 7 kilometers southeast of the Kremlin.

"Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," the investigative committee said.

Pictures posted on the Russian Telegram channel Astra showed what appeared to be two bodies lying in the snow outside the damaged door of an apartment building.

After analyzing images of a car parked near the apartment building, Astra reported that the vehicle was Kirillov's.

The RKhBZ are special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination.

According to his official biography, Kirillov participated in the creation and adoption of the TOS-2 "Tosochka" heavy flamethrower system by the Russian Army, as well as in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ukraine has not yet commented on the information. The SBU has said that Russia forces used chemical weapons almost 5,000 times during the war in Ukraine under Kirillov's leadership.

Kirillov and the RKhBZ were placed on Britain, Canada, and New Zealand's sanctions list in October for using riot control agents and numerous reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.

Kirillov and his forces were "responsible for helping deploy these barbaric weapons," Britain said at the time.

The Kremlin has called the accusations "baseless."

Kirillov, who according to Russian state news agency TASS was a graduate of Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defense, had been appointed to head the RKhBZ in April 2017.

He previously served in the Directorate of the Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-general-igor- kirillov-killed-moscow-bomb/33242614.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.