Ukraine mastermind?

Explosion in the middle of Moscow: Senior military officer dead

The investigation is in full swing in frosty Moscow.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

According to the authorities, a high-ranking Russian military representative has been killed in an explosion in the Russian capital Moscow. According to information from Russian security circles, Ukraine is behind the attack.

As two Russian military officers were leaving a residential building on Ryazan Prospekt on Tuesday morning, there was a sudden loud bang. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, an explosive device had detonated in the south-east of the capital, hidden in an e-scooter. The commander of the Russian troops defending against attacks with radioactive, biological and chemical weapons, Igor Kirillov, and his adjutant were killed.

Kirillov was killed during a "special operation" by the Ukrainian secret service SBU, according to intelligence circles in Kiev. Kiev considers Kirillov to be a war criminal and an "absolutely legitimate target". He is accused of having ordered the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, an SBU representative told the Reuters news agency. Ukraine had only indicted him in absentia on Monday. Britain imposed sanctions on Kirillov and his nuclear protection forces in October over the alleged use of chloropicrin, a toxic asphyxiant, on the battlefield. Russia has repeatedly declared that it has eliminated its chemical weapons.

Igor Kirillov:

One of the most prominent warmongers
The 54-year-old was head of the country's NBC defense forces and thus responsible for protection against the dangers of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. During the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Kirillov repeatedly made public accusations that the USA was operating secret biolaboratories in the neighboring country.

Kirillov, who was considered one of the most important warmongers in Russia and is on Western sanctions lists, also claimed that Ukraine was working on a so-called dirty bomb. Dirty bombs are weapons of mass destruction with conventional explosive devices containing radioactive material. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had also made such accusations against Ukraine on the basis of Kirillov's publicly presented reports. There was no proof of this.

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Fotos

Russia's chief investigator took control of the case
Russia's chief investigator Alexander Bastrykin has meanwhile taken control of the case. According to Russian media, the explosive device is believed to have been detonated by a cell phone signal. Mobile phone connections in the district are now also being investigated, it was reported. Photos on Russian Telegram channels showed a destroyed house entrance and two corpses lying in the blood-smeared snow. Reuters images from the scene showed a police cordon.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, threatened Ukraine with revenge, according to a report by the RIA news agency.

Cases are piling up
In Russia, there have already been attacks on high-ranking military officers and propagandists in the course of the war in the past. The power apparatus in Moscow has repeatedly blamed Ukrainian secret services for this. The best-known cases include the killing of Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, in a car bomb attack in 2022, and the killing of blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a bomb attack in a café in 2023. A Russian submarine commander accused of war crimes by Kiev was also shot dead last year.