Russia’s security service said it has detained a citizen from Uzbekistan in connection with the bombing that killed a senior military official as he left his Moscow apartment.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces, was killed on Tuesday by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. His assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, was also killed in the blast.
The bombing was claimed by Ukraine’s security service, which opened a criminal investigation against Kirillov on Monday, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. Russia has denied using chemical weapons and has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.
The suspect, identified as Akhmad Kurbanov, was born in 1995 and was recruited by Ukraine’s security service, according to the FSB. He was promised $100,000 and resettlement in a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov.
The FSB said that acting on instructions from Ukraine, Kurbanov picked up a homemade bomb in Moscow, placed it on an e-scooter, and parked it at the entrance to Kirillov’s apartment building. He rented a car to monitor the location and set up a camera that livestreamed the scene to his handlers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Kurbanov, who was detained in a village in the Moscow region, could face a life sentence if convicted.
Kirillov, 54, was a high-profile figure in Russia’s military and had been under sanctions from several countries, including the U.K. and Canada, for his actions in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s authorities described the bombing as an act of terrorism and vowed to punish Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “obvious” that Ukraine was behind Kirillov’s killing, saying Kyiv “does not shy away from terrorist methods.”