A senior Russian military leader has been assassinated in Moscow.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed when a bomb exploded near an apartment building on Tuesday.
Kirillov was the head of Russia’s nuclear defence forces. The day before his death, Ukraine accused the 54-year-old of war crimes involving the use of banned chemical weapons.
Ukrainian media and some international news outlets have reported the attack was carried out by Ukraine’s Secret Service.
Background
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was appointed to lead Russia’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons protection forces in 2017.
This week, Ukraine announced criminal proceedings against Kirillov over alleged war crimes committed since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims Kirillov ordered more than 4,800 incidents of chemical warfare, including sending chemical poisons to Ukrainian military hospitals.
Russia has denied the claims.
The SBU argues Kirillov acted in violation of Russia’s obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Russia and 192 other states signed the CWC in 1993.
The convention defines “chemical weapons” as toxic chemicals, devices and any equipment designed/used to “cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals.”
According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 98% of the world’s population lives under the protection of the CWC.
Assassination
Hours after the SBU accused Kirillov of war crimes, the Russian general and one of his aides died in an explosion in Moscow.
Russian authorities said they are investigating “the murder of two servicemen,” after a bomb planted in a scooter detonated outside a block of units.
According to reports by The New York Times, the BBC and several other news outlets, an SBU official has confirmed Ukraine was responsible for the killings.
A source within the SBU told the Kyiv Independent newspaper that Kirillov “was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target”.
Russia’s peak investigative committee has described the incident as an act of terrorism and said it was continuing with its initial inquiries.
The Ukrainian Government has not yet commented on the incident.
