WASHINGTON, December 18. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense has nothing to do with the fatal bombing attack on Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, and does not support this kind of activities, Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder has told reporters.
"I can tell you, we were not aware of this operation in advance. We do not support or enable those kinds of activities," he said.
The spokesman refrained from further comments, saying that he has nothing to add to press reports, and referred journalists to Ukrainian officials for additional information.
Earlier, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev described the attack as "the agony of the Banderite regime" and as the Kiev government’s attempt "to justify its shaky existence in the eyes of its Western patrons and prolong the deadly hostilities." He also said that the Kiev regime had admitted its role in plotting the terrorist attack.
In the morning of December 17, an explosive device planted in a scooter exploded near the entrance of a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow. Kirillov, 54, and his aide were killed in the blast. The Russian Investigative Committee classified the explosion as a terrorist attack.