Raid shines a light on Ukraine’s shadowy hit squads

The explosion that killed a Russian general was the latest in a list of assassinations of Moscow’s military officials, propaganda agents and other pro-Kremlin figures by the Ukrainian security service.

Bodies at the blast scene after an explosion killed the commander of Russian armed forces' chemical, biological and radiation defence troops, Igor Kirillov, and his assistant. Picture; AFP.

The explosion that killed a Russian general less than 8km from Red Square was a reminder that although the Kremlin’s forces are advancing on the battlefield, Kyiv can strike back in Moscow and beyond.

Igor Kirillov’s death was the latest in a list of assassinations of Russian military officials, propaganda agents and other pro-Kremlin figures by the SBU, the Ukrainian security service, or GUR, its military intelligence service.

Last week Mikhail Shatsky, a weapons expert, was shot dead in a wooded area near Moscow. That killing, like yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) bombing, was claimed by a source within the SBU. Rybar, an influential pro-war Russian Telegram channel, posted after Kirillov’s death: “The murder underlines that no matter what successes we achieve on the battlefield, no matter what euphoria reigns and no matter how much we talk about seizing the initiative, the other side always has the opportunity to deliver a painful blow.”

The SBU and GUR have had significant assistance from the CIA in developing their capabilities, according to present and former US and Ukrainian officials cited by The Washington Post. The officials said the CIA has spent tens of millions of dollars on transforming the agencies since 2015, the year after Russia annexed Crimea.

The SBU, which has its roots in the KGB, the Soviet Union’s secret police, is said to have been riddled with Russian spies and agents until 2014, when protesters in Kyiv toppled Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow Ukrainian president.

Although the CIA invested heavily in transforming the SBU, it focused much of its efforts on the GUR, whose agents and leaders were seen as being younger and more flexible. The SBU was mocked in 2018 after it faked the shooting of Arkady Babchenko, a Russian dissident journalist, in Kyiv in what it claimed was a sting operation to foil a Kremlin assassination plot.

A former US intelligence official who worked in Ukraine said last year: “We calculated that GUR was a smaller and more nimble organisation where we could have more impact.”

American officials said that the CIA had played no role in targeted killings by either the SBU or GUR, and that its work was aimed at improving their intelligence-gathering.

The Times