Russia arrests suspect ‘who planted scooter bomb that killed general’

A key suspect has been detained in the hunt for the killers of a leading Russian general in Moscow. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, in charge of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological defence troops, died in a bomb blast as he emerged from his apartment building early on Tuesday. The Russian FSB detained a citizen of Uzbekistan born in 1995 ‘suspected of committing a terrorist act that killed Igor Kirillov,’ said the Russian Investigative Committee.

He had been promised $100,000 American dollars and a future life in an unnamed European country, it was alleged. The suspect is accused of triggering the explosion from his home in Moscow region as his taskmasters watched from Dnipro in Ukraine on a feed from a live camera hidden in a car at the scene. His identity was uncovered in a joint operation by the FSB [Federal Security Service], Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, said the FSB.

The detainee left a scooter – in which an improvised explosive device was crammed – at the entrance of the residential block where Kirillov lived, according to Mash media outlet. A second suspect organised the delivery of a car sharing vehicle to the location inside which a wifi camera was secretly watching the door, enabling the bomb to be exploded remotely when Kirillov and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, 33, appeared. Both men were killed instantly.

The Russian Investigative Committee and FSB issued a lengthy statement following the arrest and interrogation of the Uzbek suspect. ‘During interrogation, he explained that he had been recruited by the Ukrainian special services. ‘On their instructions, he arrived in Moscow and received an improvised explosive device. ‘He placed it on an electric scooter, which he parked at the entrance of the apartment block where Igor Kirillov lived.

‘In order to monitor the serviceman’s residence, he rented a carsharing vehicle, where he installed a video surveillance camera. ‘The footage from this camera was broadcast online to the organisers of the terrorist attack in the city of Dnipro. ‘After the video signal of the servicemen leaving the entrance, the explosive device was remotely detonated by him. ‘Ukrainian special services officers involved in the organisation of the terrorist act will be found and punished,’ vowed the security agency. The main suspect was detained in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha district of the Moscow region.

Media reports said a second man who allegedly parked the car that contained the live feed camera was also detained, but this was not confirmed in official reports. The second suspect may have been used ‘blindly’, unaware that he was involved in a Ukrainian plot to assassinate one of Vladimir Putin’s most prominent generals, reported Mash. ‘The suspects were traced from the crime scene, where surveillance cameras recorded two suspicious cars,’ reported Kommersant newspaper. ‘The organisers contacted the men via instant messengers and gave them the contacts of [an agent] from the SBU [Ukraine’s security service].’

The audacious bombing in capital city Moscow has shocked Russians, some of whom left at the scene of the assassination in tribute to the dead general and his aide. The SBU insisted Kirillov was a legitimate target, accusing him of masterminding the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev (pictured) vowed in a message to Kirillov’s relatives the ‘imminent retribution’ for the perpetrators ‘including the top military and political leadership of the disappearing country [Ukraine].’ Now deputy head of the Russian security council and a close Putin acolyte, he said at a meeting aimed at boosting military supplies for the war: ‘Our colleague and comrade Lt-Gen Igor Kirillov was killed in a terrorist attack.

‘He was a military commander, devoted to his duty and his oath. All of us here at this table knew him as a very good professional and as a decent and responsible person. Despite the fact that the investigation has just begun, our enemies have already rushed to publish information about their involvement.’

‘But in any case, law enforcement agencies must find the killers in Russia. And everything must be done to destroy those who ordered it who are in Kyiv. These customers are also known, they are the military-political leadership of Ukraine… The work of the defence industry must in no way be relaxed.’

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