Russia arrests ‘Ukrainian agent’ for general’s killing

Russia has arrested an alleged hitman who claims he was offered $160,000 cash and a European passport by Ukraine for the assassination of general Igor Kirillov.

Russia has arrested an alleged Ukrainian agent over a bombing that killed a high-ranking general outside his home in Moscow.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant died when a bomb detonated at the entrance to an apartment block on Tuesday morning. He is the most senior Russian military official to have been killed by Ukraine since the start of all-out war in 2022.

Russia’s FSB security service said yesterday (Tuesday) that a 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, had been arrested in connection with the assassination. It said he had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence and was detained in a village near Moscow.

“On their instructions, he arrived in Moscow and received a homemade explosive device. He placed it on an electric scooter, which he parked at the entrance to the apartment building where Igor Kirillov lived. In order to monitor the serviceman’s place of residence, he rented a car-sharing vehicle, where he installed a video-surveillance camera,” a spokeswoman for Russia’s investigative committee said.

The committee also alleged a live video of the scene was broadcast to the “organisers of the terrorist attack” in Dnipro, a city in central Ukraine. “After a video signal was received showing the servicemen leaving the entrance, he remotely detonated the explosive device,” the spokeswoman said.

In a video published by the FSB, a man in handcuffs speaking heavily accented Russian said he had carried out the attack on the orders of Kyiv. “I arrived in Moscow on an assignment from the Ukrainian special services,” he said. “A few months later, the bomb supplies arrived, and I accepted them too. Then they prepared everything and put it next to the house where the general [lived]. And then, when he left the house, I pressed the button. Why did I do this, for what purpose? They offered me US$100,000 (AU$160,000) and a European passport.”

While it was unclear whether he was speaking under duress, human-rights groups say it is common for Russian police to torture suspects into false confessions.

The suspect was named by Ria Novosti, a state news agency, as Akhmad Kurbanov. The agency also published photographs from what it said was his social media account. Russian state television called him a “terrorist.” It is unclear where he is being held or when he will appear in court.

Kirillov was killed less than 24 hours after he had been accused by Ukraine’s SBU security service of ordering almost 5,000 chemical-weapon attacks on Ukrainian troops. The Tass state news agency named his assistant as Ilya Polikarpov

Sources in the SBU told western news agencies on Tuesday that its agents had carried out the assassination. They said Kyiv considered Kirillov a war criminal and a legitimate target. There has been no official comment from Ukraine, however.

The Kremlin accused Kyiv of carrying out a terrorist attack in Moscow. “It is once again confirmed that the Kyiv regime does not shy away from terrorist methods,” said Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s spokesman. Russia has killed and tortured tens of thousands of civilians over the course of its invasion.

Officials in Moscow have said that Britain and the United States were responsible for Kirillov’s death because they had supplied Ukraine with weapons and other support.

Washington says it was not involved in the bombing and had no prior knowledge of it. A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said Kirillov had “propagated an illegal invasion and imposed suffering and death on the Ukrainian people”.

THE TIMES