MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have charged an Uzbek citizen accused of acting on Ukraine's behalf in the murder of a top Russian general and his aide in the electric scooter this week. bombing claimed by the Ukrainian security services, Russian state media reported Thursday.
Akhmadzhon Kurbonov was ordered to be held by a Moscow court until February 17 at least in Tuesday's bombing that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's Radiological, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, said state news agency Tass.
Kurbonov was charged with murder, committing a terrorist act and illegally manufacturing explosives, the news agency said.
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Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his Moscow building a day later Security service of Ukraine criminal charges against him. His assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, was also killed.
Kurbonov, previously identified by news agencies as Akhmad Kurbanov, was arrested by Russian security services on Wednesday. Shortly after his arrest, Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, which has not identified him, said he was born in 1995 and was employed by the Ukrainian security service. The Associated Press could not confirm the circumstances under which the suspect spoke to the FSB.
The suspect said he was promised $100,000 and resettled in a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov, according to the FSB.
The agency, acting on instructions from Ukraine, said the suspect built a homemade bomb in Moscow, placed it on an e-scooter and parked it at the entrance to Kirillov's apartment building.
He rented a car to monitor the area and set up a camera to stream the footage to his handlers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the FSB said, detonating the bomb as Kirillov left the building. .
Kirillov, 54, was the head of Russia's Radiological, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces. The task of the special forces is to protect the military from the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and to ensure operations in a contaminated environment.
It was under sanctions from several countriesincluding the UK and Canada, for what he did there Russia full invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in fighting.
An SBU official told AP on Tuesday that the group was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, described Kirillov as “a war criminal and a completely legitimate target.”
