(19 Dec 2024)
Clients note: This item contains on-screen graphics, including AP branding.
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++PLEASE NOTE: AP IS OPERATING IN RUSSIA ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN RESTRICTIONS ON ALL REPORTING RELATED TO THE ONGOING MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Moscow, Russia - 19 December 2024
1. Suspect in the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, Akhmadzhon Kurbonov, being led by police to courtroom
2. Various of Kurbonov in a cage in courtroom
3. Journalists outside court
4. Close-up of flag
5. Court entrance, pan to police car
STORYLINE:
A citizen of Uzbekistan was charged and detained by a Russian court with killing a senior Russian general and his assistant following a bombing with an electric scooter which was later claimed by Ukraine's security services, Russian state news agency Tass said Thursday.
The agency said Akhmadzhon Kurbonov was ordered detained until 17 February following a bombing that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces. He was also charged with illegally manufacturing explosives.
Kirillov was killed Tuesday as he left his southeastern Moscow apartment by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his building, a day after Ukraine’s security service levelled criminal charges against him. His assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, also was killed.
Kurbonov, previously referred to by news agencies as Akhmad Kurbanov, was detained by Russian security services Wednesday.
Shortly after he was detained, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, which did not identify him, said he was born in 1995 and was recruited by Ukraine’s security service. The Associated Press could not confirm the conditions under which the suspect spoke to the FSB.
He said he had been promised $100,000 and resettlement in a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov, according to the FSB.
The agency said that acting on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect picked up 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 location and set up a camera that livestreamed the scene to his handlers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the FSB said, detonating the bomb when Kirillov left the building.
Kirillov, 54, was the head of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces. The special troops are tasked with protecting the military from use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment.
He was under sanctions from several countries, including the U.K. and Canada, for his actions in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. On Monday, Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
Russia denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.
An SBU official told AP on Tuesday that the agency 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 an entirely legitimate target.”
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
