A senior Russian general in charge of the country’s nuclear protection forces has died in a bombing incident involving a hidden explosive device attached to an electric scooter, Russia’s investigative committee said. Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, chief of the Troops of Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defence, died of his injuries outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt on Tuesday.
The investigative committee said Kirillov and his assistant were killed in the attack. According to reports from Russia’s TASS news agency, citing law enforcement sources, the explosive device had an equivalent capacity of about 300 grams of TNT.
Images published in Russian Telegram channels showed a destroyed entrance to the building, with debris all over, and two bodies lying in the snow stained with blood. A criminal investigation has been opened into the incident.
Kirillov commanded the specialized forces that were trained to work in conditions of radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination. Al Jazeera’s Maria Shapovalova reported from Moscow on concerns over a lack of surveillance where the attack occurred: “Residents of the residential complex where the explosive device detonated have been complaining for years about the absence of adequate video surveillance,” she said.
On Monday, Ukrainian prosecutors charged Kirillov in absentia with allegedly using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine reported to the Kyiv Independent. Russia has denied these allegations.
In October, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Kirillov and the nuclear protection forces for allegedly using riot control agents and multiple instances of deploying the toxic agent chloropicrin on the battlefield. Chloropicrin, an oily liquid with a pungent odor, is listed as a choking agent and was widely used during World War I as a form of tear gas. Its use is specifically prohibited by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
While Russia denies having an active military stockpile of chemical weapons, calls for greater transparency into toxic weapon use mount. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it has recorded more than 4,800 cases of chemical weapon use on the battlefield since February 2022, most involving K-1 combat grenades.
