Listen to the article
Russian authorities have arrested a citizen of Uzbekistan born in 1995 on suspicion of carrying out the bomb attack in Moscow that killed General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov on 17 December.
The Investigative Committee of Russia said the suspect’s name had not been officially disclosed, though the Telegram channel Baza identified him as Ahmad Kurbanov. The Russian Interior Ministry said he was apprehended in the village of Chornoye, near Balashikha in the Moscow region.
During interrogation, the suspect allegedly confessed to being recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services. According to the Investigative Committee’s account, he travelled to Moscow, obtained a homemade explosive device and concealed it inside an electric scooter parked near the entrance of the residential building on Ryazansky Prospekt where Kirillov lived. To monitor the general’s movements, the suspect rented a car-sharing vehicle fitted with a surveillance camera and streamed live footage to the attack’s organizers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The device was detonated remotely once Kirillov and Polikarpov were seen leaving the building.
The Investigative Committee said the suspect was promised $100,000 and resettlement in a European country in exchange for carrying out the operation. A video purportedly showing his interrogation circulated on social media following the announcement.
Criminal cases have been opened on charges of murder, terrorism and the illegal circulation of explosives.
Ukrainian intelligence link
Reuters and The New York Times, citing sources in Ukrainian intelligence, reported that the assassination was orchestrated by Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU). The day before Kirillov was killed, the SSU had accused him in absentia of ordering the mass use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces — an allegation that preceded his death by less than 24 hours.
The Uzbek Embassy in Moscow said it had established contact with Russian law-enforcement bodies and was working to clarify details about the detained national.