The suspect has been named as Akhmad Kurbanov, 29, from Uzbekistan, and in a confession video after his arrest by the FSB said he was offered $100,000 [£78,700] and a new life in Europe
Dmitry Medvedev vows to avenge death of colleague Igor Kirillov
A man accused of planting a scooter bomb that kiled Vladimir Putin’s top nuclear general made a chilling confession during his arrest.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, in charge of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological defence troops, died in a bomb blast as he emerged from his apartment building early on Tuesday.
The suspect has been named as Akhmad Kurbanov, 29, from Uzbekistan, and in a chilling confession video after his arrest by the FSB said he was offered $100,000 [£78,700] and a new life in Europe.
The handcuffed man apparently confessed both planting the bomb concealed in or on a scooter – and pushing the button to trigger it when the general emerged from his apartment building. The FSB security service said that Ukrainian SBU officers who had tasked him with the bombing watched it from Dnipro in Ukraine.
The committee continued: “During interrogation, he explained that he had been recruited by the Ukrainian special services. On their instructions, he arrived in Moscow and received an improvised explosive device.
“He placed it on an electric scooter, which he parked at the entrance of the apartment block where Igor Kirillov lived. In order to monitor the serviceman’s residence, he rented a carsharing vehicle, where he installed a video surveillance camera. The footage from this camera was broadcast online to the organisers of the terrorist attack in the city of Dnipro.
“After the video signal of the servicemen leaving the entrance, the explosive device was remotely detonated by him. The detained suspect’s identity was found in a joint operation by the FSB [Federal Security Service], Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, said the FSB.
“Ukrainian special services officers involved in the organisation of the terrorist act will be found and punished,” vowed the security agency. Media reports said a second man was also detained, who allegedly parked the car, but this was not confirmed in official reports. He may not have known the purpose of this task.
“The suspects were traced from the crime scene, where surveillance cameras recorded two suspicious cars,” reported Kommersant newspaper. The organisers contacted the men via instant messengers and gave them the contacts of [an agent] from the SBU [Ukraine’s security service].”
The detainee left a scooter – in which an improvised explosive device was crammed – at the entrance of the residential block where Kirillov lived, according to Mash media outlet. A second suspect organised the delivery of a car sharing vehicle to the location inside which a WiFi camera was secretly watching the door, enabling the bomb to be exploded remotely when Kirillov and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, 33, appeared.
Both men were killed instantly. One of the detainees was allegedly used “blindly”, unaware that he was involved in a Ukrainian plot to assassinate one of Vladimir Putin’s most prominent generals, reported Mash. Kommersant said: “The crime was essentially solved quickly, the source stated. “Official statements regarding the terrorist attack have yet to be made.”
The main suspect was detained in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha district of the Moscow region. Flowers were today left at the scene of the bombing in tribute to the dead general and his aide. The audacious bombing in capital city Moscow has shocked Russians. The SBU insisted Kirillov was a legitimate target, accusing him of masterminding the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev vowed in a message to Kirillov’s relatives the “imminent retribution” for the perpetrators “including the top military and political leadership of the disappearing country [Ukraine].” Now deputy head of the Russian security council and a close Putin acolyte, he said at a meeting aimed at boosting military supplies for the war: “Our colleague and comrade Lt-Gen Igor Kirillov was killed in a terrorist attack.
“He was a military commander, devoted to his duty and his oath. All of us here at this table knew him as a very good professional and as a decent and responsible person. Despite the fact that the investigation has just begun, our enemies have already rushed to publish information about their involvement. But in any case, law enforcement agencies must find the killers in Russia.
“And everything must be done to destroy those who ordered it who are in Kyiv. These customers are also known, they are the military-political leadership of Ukraine….. The work of the defence industry must in no way be relaxed.”