Explained | Who was Igor Kirillov, the Russian Lt General assassinated in Moscow?

Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was assassinated in a special operation in Moscow on Tuesday. According to Reuters sources, Kirillov was a 'legitimate target' of the The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who have taken responsibility for the assassination.

Kirillov and his assistant died after an explosive device which was planted in a scooter detonated on Tuesday morning near the entrance to an apartment building. Kirillov was aged 54.

Who was Igor Kirillov?

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was the chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops also known as RKhBZ.

Previously he has been accused by Ukraine for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers.

According to UK-based publication The Independent, Kirillov was a senior within the Kremlin. He led special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination and are tasked with protecting ground forces operating in extreme conditions.

Why was he targeted?

A day before his assassination, prosecutors in Ukraine sentenced Kirillov in absentia with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.

On their Telegram channel, SBU claimed that Kirillov ordered the use of chemical weapons more than 4,800 times.

"In particular, we are talking about combat grenades "K-1", which are equipped with poisonous substances of an irritating effect - CS and CN. Their use is prohibited by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Use of Chemical Weapons"

Earlier, Britain had put sanctions on Kirillov for the use of  use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.

UK said, “Russian forces have openly admitted to using hazardous chemical weapons on the battlefield, with widespread use of riot control agents and multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin – first deployed on the battlefields of WW1.”

The US State Department also put similar accusations on Russia and had used chloropicrin as well as tear gas was used during on the battlefield under the command of Kirillov.

Russia said on Wednesday it had detained a citizen of Uzbekistan who had confessed to planting and detonating a bomb which killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in Moscow a day earlier on the instructions of Ukraine's security service.