Suspect in killing of senior Russian general detained in Moscow

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says that it has detained a suspect in the killing of a senior general in Moscow.

The suspect was described as an Uzbek citizen recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services, RFE/RL reported.

The FSB, didn't name the suspect, but said he was born in 1995. According to a statement by the FSB, the suspect said himself that he was recruited by Ukrainian special services.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed by a bomb concealed in a scooter outside the entrance of a Moscow building early on December 17, Russia's Investigative Committee said.

Kirillov, 54, was in charge of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense and is the highest-level Russian military officer to be killed in an apparent assassination since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While no individual or group officially claimed responsibility for the killing, a source at Ukraine's SBU security service told RFE/RL that the blast was the result of a special operation by the SBU.

The Kremlin blamed the attack on Kyiv and criticized Ukraine's Western allies for what it called a lack of reaction to the killing.