Russian general killed in explosion in Moscow

A senior general of the Russian armed forces and his assistant were killed in an explosion in Moscow.

The Russian Investigative Committee said that Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), was leaving a residential area early Tuesday morning when a device hidden in Scooter explodes.

Images from the scene showed the entrance to a building was heavily damaged, with scorch marks on the walls and some windows blown out. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.

In October, Britain imposed sanctions about Kirillov, saying he oversaw the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and served as a “key mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.

On Monday, Ukraine’s secret service, the SBU, charged him in absentia, saying on Telegram he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”.

Russia denies the accusations.

The Investigative Committee, Russia’s main investigative agency, said it had “opened a criminal case over the murder of two servicemen”.

“Investigators, forensic experts and law enforcement agencies are working at the scene,” the statement said.

“Investigation operations and search operations are being carried out with the aim of establishing all the circumstances of the crime.”

Under UK sanctions, Kirillov was subject to an asset freeze and travel ban, while the Foreign Office described him as a “key spokesman for Kremlin disinformation”.

In May, The US accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons as a “method of warfare” in Ukraine, in violation of international law prohibiting their use.

State Department officials said Russia used the choking agent chloropicrin to gain “battlefield advantages” against Ukraine.

The Kremlin denied the allegations at the time, calling them “baseless”.