The blast was caused by an explosive device that had been planted in an electric scooter, Spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko said.
“On the morning of December 17, an explosive device planted in a scooter went off near a residential building entrance on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow, the investigation showed. Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his aide were killed in the explosion,” she added.
According to Petrenko, the Committee’s Moscow department has launched a criminal probe into the attack.
Circumstances behind the crime are currently being investigated.
Kirillov led Russia’s chemical, biological, and radiological defense forces since 2017.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) was behind the assassination of Russian General Igor Kirillov, multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources in the agency.
Reuters, the BBC, and Ukrainian media outlets have cited what appears to be the same statement by an SBU source describing the 54-year-old Russian officer as “a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target” for assassination.
