Moscow: Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in charge of Russia’s nuclear protection forces, was killed in a blast in Moscow on Tuesday, reports claimed. Kirillov is the chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops. He died outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, near the Kremlin, a day after he was charged in absentia with the allegation of using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.
According to Russian probe agencies, the bomb that exploded was hidden in an electric scooter. One more person has died in the incident.
“Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed,” an investigative committee stated, as quoted by Reuters.
Visuals from the ground went viral on social media. The visuals showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying on the blood-stained snow. Police had cordoned the area and filed a criminal case.
Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defence troops, known as RKhBZ, are special forces. They operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination.
On Monday, Ukrainian prosecutors had alleged that Kirillov was involved in absentia in the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. Russia, however, denied the allegations.
