This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Russia accused Kyiv of “terrorism” after authorities said they had detained an Uzbek citizen who confessed to planting an explosive device that killed a high-ranking Russian officer on the instruction of Ukrainian intelligence.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces (RKhBZ), and his assistant were killed by a bomb concealed in a scooter outside the entrance of a Moscow building early on December 17.
The speed of the arrest of the unnamed suspect led some analysts to question whether the 29-year-old Central Asian was a scapegoat, while unconfirmed reports swirled that police were ratcheting up raids on migrants.
“The special services have a clear interest in showing their superiors the result of their work, that a successful investigation has taken place, and so on. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this. It’s hard to judge right now how accurate this [arrest] is,” political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told Current Time.
While no individual or group officially claimed responsibility for the killing, a source at Ukraine’s SBU security service told RFE/RL that the blast was the result of a special operation by the SBU.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on December 18 that the unnamed suspect had been recruited and trained by Ukraine’s special services and promised money to carry out the attack.
The FSB said the suspect, on instructions from Ukraine, “arrived in Moscow, received a high-power homemade explosive device, and placed it on an electric scooter, which he parked near the entrance to the house of Kirillov.”
The Kremlin has not commented on the FSB statement, which said the suspect activated the bomb when Kirillov and his assistant were coming out of the building.
The accused man had been given $100,000 for the murder as well as residency in a European country, the statement said, adding that the suspect faces life in prison for his alleged crime.
“The Ukrainian special services officers involved in organizing the terrorist attack will be found and will receive the punishment they deserve,” the FSB said.
The FSB did not present any evidence along with its statement, and some analysts questioned the speed of the response.
One woman from Kyrgyzstan told RFE/RL in Moscow that she expects a backlash for migrants from Central Asia.
“The situation is difficult,” the woman said. “I think the position of Central Asian migrants will only worsen after this event. Street inspections will likely intensify.”
The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was afraid to reveal her identity, recalled that events after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in March there were many raids and deportations of Central Asians from Russia and it’s possible this could happen again, she said.
Russian investigators said the assault in which 144 people were killed was carried out by four men, all Tajik nationals.
The Kyrgyz woman who spoke with RFE/RL said that she believes Uzbeks in Russia will continue to have a difficult time.
“Migration laws in Russia are already being tightened. Things will get worse for them regardless,” she said, noting that new laws will come into effect on January 1 and “everything will become even harder.”
Kirillov, 54, is the highest-level Russian military officer to be killed in an apparent assassination since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
His death came a day after the SBU reported that Ukrainian prosecutors had filed a charge against him, accusing him of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops during the war started by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The SBU has said Russian forces have used chemical weapons almost 5,000 times during the war in Ukraine under Kirillov’s leadership. The claim could not be independently verified.
The RKhBZ are special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination.
Kirillov is one of a number of Russian officers and pro-war figures to be killed in Russia and in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
His death came a week after a senior official from a Russian company that develops cruise missiles used by Moscow in the war was reportedly shot dead just outside the capital.
Viktor Yahun, the former deputy head of the SBU, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service in an interview that with some 20 million people in Russia having Ukrainian origins, “you can find a percentage who are ready to sincerely work for Ukraine. That’s why there are so many agents over there.”
Kirillov was seen in footage that was central to an RFE/RL Russian Service investigation that revealed details about a restricted facility outside Moscow. The site is linked to a U.S. assertion that Russia maintains an offensive biological weapons program in violation of the UN Biological Weapons Convention.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now a senior Russian security official, told a meeting shown on state TV that NATO and Ukraine’s Western allies were behind the attack because of their support for Kyiv throughout Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
“These individuals can and should be considered a legitimate military target,” he said.
NATO officials have not commented publicly on Medvedev’s remarks, but Kaja Kallas, the top EU diplomat, told reporters in Brussels that “Russia is always threatening.”
“And it is meant to scare us, so what we see is the threats we have heard before, so I think the only response we can have is not to be afraid,” she added.
Security analyst Yuri Fedorov told Current Time he expects that Russia “will certainly try to retaliate, so it is very possible that there will be attempts by the Russian agents to kill high Ukrainian military and/or security services officers.”
“The attacks on Russian generals could have a political and psychological effect, but they cannot seriously impede Russia’s military effort: people like General Kirillov are not the irreplaceable figures who cannot be substituted.”
