A top general in charge of Russian nuclear protection forces has been killed along with an aide by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter in Moscow, according to Russia’s investigative committee. A source in the Security Service of Ukraine says the agency claims responsibility for the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov. Ukraine has yet to officially comment.
As head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection troops, Igor Kirillov – who has died in an explosion in Moscow – was accused by the West of overseeing the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In Russia, he was viewed as a tireless patriot, fighting for the truth and exposing Western “crimes”.
Sources from Ukraine’s SBU security service said it it was behind the blast and referred to a special operation against a “war criminal” and a legitimate target.
Kirillov and an aide were killed by explosives planted in an electric scooter, according to Russian officials, which was blown up as he left the building he lived in on Ryazansky Prospekt in south-eastern Moscow.
He had become notorious for outlandish briefings at the Russian defence ministry which prompted the UK Foreign Office to label him as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.
Kirillov was far more than just a mouthpiece, heading Russia’s Timoshenko Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Academy, before going on to lead the Russian army’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops in 2017.
Credit: bbc.com
