A driver escaped the explosion in Moscow, which claimed the lives of the Igor Kirillov and his aide
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov’s driver, who was waiting to take him to work on Tuesday morning when he was killed in a blast outside his residence, has survived the explosion, Moscow daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the man sustained only minor injuries, despite his car being badly damaged.
Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, was assassinated in the early hours of Tuesday morning on Ryazansky Avenue in southeastern Moscow, while exiting his home to head to a work briefing. Russian investigators said an improvised explosive device (IED) packed with TNT had likely been attached to an electric scooter, which was parked between the entrance to the building where the general lived and the nearest lamppost. According to the report, the power of the blast was equivalent to around 1kg of TNT.
The device was possibly detonated remotely once Kirillov stepped out of the building. The general’s aide walked first, and was instantly killed when the blast and shrapnel hit him in the back. Kirillov, who was around 1.5 meters from the explosion, died from fatal injuries shortly afterwards.
Kirillov’s driver was inside his official vehicle, a Toyota Camry, at the time of the blast. He was concussed by the blast wave, which also shattered the car’s windows, and his face and hands were cut by shards of broken glass. The identity of the driver has not been made public. Two more cars parked nearby were also badly damaged, while the explosion shattered windows in Kirillov’s residential building and damaged its entrance.
Authorities have opened a criminal investigation on charges of murder, terrorism, and illegal weapons trafficking. On Wednesday, the Investigative Committee of Russia announced the detention of a suspect linked to the attack. Investigators identified the arrested individual as a citizen of Uzbekistan born in 1995. Reports suggest he had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence and traveled to Moscow to execute the attack.
Investigators reportedly suspect Ukrainian special services in orchestrating the attack, which took place mere hours after the general was accused by Kiev of being linked to the use of chemical agents on the battlefield in Ukraine – a claim Moscow has denied.
Kirillov regularly appeared at military briefings, accusing Kiev and the US of operating biolaboratories and using chemical weapons. Kostroma Region Governor Sergey Sitnikov, who said he was a close friend of Kirillov, revealed on Tuesday that the general had told him that he felt he was “being hunted” for some time. Sitnikov attributed that to Kirillov’s work in unearthing information about secret biological laboratories in Ukraine.
According to the Mash Telegram channel, Kirillov was being watched from a car-sharing vehicle prior to the blast. The car reportedly had a camera, which was aimed at the entrance of Kirillov’s building. The perpetrators are believed to have used this to monitor the general and remotely activate the explosive device.
