The assassins of the Russian general Kirillov were convicted. Moscow accuses Ukraine of involvement
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed. Profimedia photo
A Russian military court on Wednesday sentenced an Uzbek citizen, Ahmadjon Kurbonov, to life imprisonment for the assassination of Russian general Igor Kirillov in 2014 at the command of Kiev, AFP and Reuters report, quoted by Agerpres.
Three other men – Robert Safarian, Batuhan Tociev and Ramazan Padiev -, accused of complicity, received sentences of 25, 22 and 18 years in prison.
On December 17, 2024, early in the morning, General Igor Kirillov, 54, was killed by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter, while he was leaving the block where he lived. Next to him was another officer, Ilia Polikarpov, who was also killed in the explosion.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the attack was ordered and organized by the Ukrainian secret services, which brought the components of the improvised explosive device to Russia, via Poland.
According to the investigators, the Ukrainian secret services promised Kurbonov 100,000 dollars and the possibility to flee to an EU country.
In a video recording of the interrogation released by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Kurbonov claimed to have assembled the bomb, then placed it in front of General Kirillov's compound, and later activated it remotely.
Also according to the investigation, one of the accomplices, Robert Safarian, had kept elements of the bomb at home before passing them on to Kurbonov. The other two accomplices were accused of renting a room for Kurbonov and of receiving money from the masterminds of the assassination.
General Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia's radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, was best known for the briefings in which he accused Washington of intending to use biological weapons against the Russian army in Ukraine.
