MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. The terrorist attack on Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, and his aide is a sign of desperation from the Kiev regime and its sponsors, a senior Russian senator said on Tuesday.
"This terrorist attack undermines the prospects for a dialogue between Moscow and Washington on the resolution [of the conflict] in Ukraine. In a certain sense, this is a desperate gesture by those who organized it, who are behind [those who committed the crime], that is, both the Kiev regime and its sponsors," Vladimir Chizhov, first deputy chairman of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Committee on Defense and Security told reporters.
Kiev's accusations against Kirillov about his involvement "in alleged war crimes involving chemical weapons only confirm that this was a deliberately orchestrated, planned, and timed terrorist attack," Chizhov noted.
Moscow should increase control over electric scooters after the murder, Chizhov said.
Early on December 17, an explosive device planted in a scooter detonated near the entrance of a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue in southeastern Moscow, investigators revealed. Kirillov, 54, and his aide were killed in the blast. The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Articles 105, 205, and 222 of the Criminal Code (murder, terrorist act, illegal trafficking in weapons and ammunition). Investigators are now conducting operational and search activities to identify the individual responsible for the crime.