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Russian lieutenant general Igor Kirillov has been killed in a bomb attack in Moscow.
Ukraine’s security service has taken responsibility for his death, which came a day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged him over the alleged use of chemical weapons in Russia’s war against Ukraine. His assistant also died in the attack.
Kirillov had held a prominent role and was responsible for overseeing Russia’s nuclear forces.
Who was Igor Kirillov?
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov had overseen Russia’s nuclear forces since 2017 and headed the agency for radioactive, chemical and biological defence troops, known as RKhBZ.
Ukrainian prosecutors had charged him in absentia over the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. “On Kirillov’s orders, since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than 4,800 cases of enemy use of chemical munitions have been recorded,” the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said. Russia denies the charge.
Kirillov has long been suspected of ordering the use of banned chemical weapons in the war, and in October he was sanctioned by the UK for allegedly using the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.
The sanctions named the 54-year-old as being “responsible for, engaging in, providing support for, or promoting prohibited activity related to chemical weapons” as the head of the military unit, “which has been involved in the transfer and use of chemical weapons in Ukraine”. His assets were frozen and he was given with a travel ban.
Kirillov has also had sanctions imposed on him by Canada and New Zealand.
What do we know about his early life?
Kirillov was born on July 13, 1970 in Kostroma, a city in western Russia around 340km from Moscow.
He attended the Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defence in the 1990s and graduated from the Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence in 2007.
How was he killed?
Kirillov was killed by an explosive hidden inside an e-scooter outside an apartment building in Moscow. His assistant also died in the blast. Images shared on communications app Telegram show a destroyed doorway and rubble, and two bodies lying in the snow.
The bomb was triggered remotely and weighed the equivalent of 300g of TNT, Russian state media reported.
The SBU has taken responsibility for Kirillov’s death, labelling him an “absolutely legitimate target” and citing the chemical weapons charge.
