It seems even Moscow is no longer safe for Putin’s war criminals.
Less than a week after one of Russia’s lead missile designers is killed in Moscow, Senior General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, has also been assassinated, the highest level Russian official to yet be killed since the beginning of the war. Russian investigators report that an explosive device, concealed within an electric scooter, was detonated remotely as Kirillov exited his residential building.
Kirillov, 54, had led the chemical weapons branch of the Russian Armed Forces since 2017 and only yesterday charged by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) of deploying prohibited chemical weapons in the ongoing conflict. The SBU documented over 4,800 instances of chemical munitions use under his command since February 2022. Additionally, in October, the United Kingdom sanctioned Kirillov for his role in deploying chemical agents, including the toxic choking agent chloropicrin, against Ukrainian forces.
Already sanctioned by the UK, Kirillov was not only known for his war crimes but also his crimes against comedy as well, being the originator of the 2019 “Ukrainian biolab killer mosquito” project in which Russian troll factories amplified a statement he had given attempting to demonize the Ukrainian government with ridiculous claims of weaponized insects that were to invade Russia at any moment.
Russian authorities have initiated a criminal investigation into Kirillov’s assassination, with preliminary suspicions pointing towards Ukrainian involvement.
If Putin cant keep his war criminals safe even in Moscow, things are definitely changing.