A high-ranking general in the Russian armed forces has been killed in an explosion in Moscow. General Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), was leaving an apartment block early Tuesday morning when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter exploded, Russia's Investigative Committee said.
He was killed outside a palace about 7 km southeast of the Kremlin.
"Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," the investigative committee said.
Pictures posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a broken entrance to a building filled with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.
In October, the UK imposed sanctions on Kirillov, saying he had overseen the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and acted as a "significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation".
On Monday, Ukraine's secret service, the SBU, charged him in absentia, saying on Telegram that he was "responsible for the massive use of banned chemical weapons."
The Investigative Committee, Russia's main investigative authority, said it had "opened a criminal case into the killing of two servicemen".
"Investigators, forensic experts and operational services are working at the scene," the announcement states.
Investigative actions and operational research are being carried out to clarify all the circumstances of the crime.
The Russian Radioactive, Chemical and Biological Protection Corps, known as RKhBZ, are special forces that operate in conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination. (A2 Televizion)
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