Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces, was killed in an explosion in Moscow on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
The blast occurred when an explosive device detonated in a scooter parked near the entrance of a residential building on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow. Kirillov’s assistant was also killed in the explosion.
This incident happened just a day after Ukraine’s Security Services charged Kirillov with using banned chemical weapons during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
The British government had also sanctioned Kirillov in October for his role in deploying riot control agents and chemical choking agents on the battlefield.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova defended Kirillov’s record, stating that he had been “systematically exposing the crimes of the Anglo-Saxons for many years.”
Zakharova praised Kirillov’s fearless work, saying, “He did not hide behind people’s backs… He met problems head on. For the Motherland, for the truth. Bright be his memory, may he rest in peace”.
