A high-ranking Russian military official was killed in an explosion in Moscow on Tuesday. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was the chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed alongside his second-in-command in an explosion outside his apartment in Moscow.
According to initial reports, the blast was triggered when an explosive device planted in a scooter parked near the entrance of a residential building on Moscow's Ryazansky Avenue was activated.
The explosive device “had a capacity of some 300 grams in TNT equivalent,” Russian outlet Tass news agency, quoting an investigating official, reported.
“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,” the Russian investigative committee said.
The NBC Protection Troops, known as RKhBZ, are special forces who operate when there is a threat from radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination.
The 54-year-old began his career in the Soviet Army in 1987 and rose through the ranks to become one of the most powerful men in uniform in Russia.
Kirillov had been leading the NBC Protection Troops since April 2017 and was sanctioned by countries including Ukraine, Canada, and the UK for his role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kirillov's death under suspicious circumstances came a day after Ukraine charged him in absentia for using banned chemical weapons during the ongoing war.
In May this year, the US accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons as a "method of warfare" in Ukraine, in violation of international laws banning their use, a charge Moscow has denied.
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