MOSCOW, Dec 18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Russia has detained a suspect in the killing
of the head of the army's chemical weapons division, investigators said
Wednesday, a day after the general and his aide were killed in a brazen blast
in Moscow claimed by Ukraine.

Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed when an explosive device attached
to a scooter went off Tuesday morning outside an apartment building in
southeastern Moscow.

The Kremlin said the attack proved "the Kyiv regime does not shy away from
using terrorist methods".

Kirillov, 54, was the most senior military figure assassinated in Russia
since Kremlin sent troops in Ukraine nearly three years ago.

"An Uzbek citizen, born in 1995, was arrested on suspicion of having
committed the attack", the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes
in Russia, said in a statement.

The detained suspect said he had been "recruited by Ukrainian special
forces", it added.

The handcuffed man was shown in video footage confessing to the attack, with
several cuts on his face.

He said that he was promised "$100,000 and a European passport" for carrying
out the attack.

Investigators said the suspect had told them he came to Moscow to carry out
the attack and received an explosive device which he placed on an electric
scooter parked outside Kirillov's apartment building, which he activated via
remote control.

A camera mounted on the dashboard of a rented car parked outside the building
had filmed the attack and streamed it "live to the attack organisers, in the
(Ukrainian) city of Dnipro".

The suspect faces a charge of carrying out a "terrorist" attack, and
investigators said they were seeking to identify others involved.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised security services for working
"effectively" and "fast" in detaining a suspect.

The blast went off in a residential area in southeast Moscow a day after
President Vladimir Putin hailed Russian troop successes in Ukraine.

Kirillov was the head of the Russian army's chemical, biological and
radiological weapons unit and was recently sanctioned by Britain over the
alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

- 'War criminal' -

A source in Ukraine's SBU security service told AFP on Tuesday that it was
behind the explosion in what it called a "special operation", calling
Kirillov a "war criminal".

The SBU had announced charges against Kirillov on Monday for the alleged use
of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Russian authorities said they were probing the attack as "terrorism".

But the SBU source told AFP: "Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely
legitimate target, as he gave orders to use banned chemical weapons against
the Ukrainian military."

"Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for
war crimes is inevitable," the source said.

Britain and the United States have accused Russia of using the toxic agent
chloropicrin, a choking agent used widely in World War I, in violation of the
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Russia has said it no longer possesses a military chemical arsenal.

Kirillov had regularly accused Kyiv and the West of running secret networks
of bio-labs that were developing banned chemical agents across Ukraine --
claims rejected by the West and independent fact-checking organisations.

On Tuesday a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London
was "not going to mourn" Kirillov, because he "imposed suffering and death on
the Ukrainian people".

Britain had slapped sanctions on Kirillov in October over alleged chemical
weapons use in Ukraine.

A US official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity that Washington "was not
aware of the operation in advance and we do not support or enable these kind
of activities".

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine's allies
of being "accomplices" in "war crimes" by remaining silent on such killings
or expressing support.

There have been assassinations on Russian territory before but such attacks
in Moscow -- where fighting in Ukraine often feels distant -- are rare.

Previous targets included nationalist writer Darya Dugina -- killed in a car
bomb attack outside Moscow in 2022 -- and pro-conflict military correspondent
Maxim Fomin, who was blown up in a Saint Petersburg cafe in 2023.