Russia denies Ukrainian allegations it uses chemical weapons on the battlefield and Kirillov, who was married with two sons, was himself sometimes shown on state TV giving briefings at the Defence Ministry in which he accused Ukraine of violating nuclear safety protocols or the West of various alleged crimes.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, paid tribute to Kirillov, saying he had worked “fearlessly” for “the Motherland” to expose what she said were the West’s chemical weapons-related and other crimes and what Moscow says were cover-ups in Syria and elsewhere.
Britain in October imposed sanctions on Kirillov and his nuclear defence forces for using riot control agents and over multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.
Such agents, Ukraine has alleged, are used to disorientate its troops leaving them unable to defend themselves against Russian attacks.
Kirillov was murdered a day after Ukrainian state prosecutors were reported to have charged him in absentia with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons, the Kyiv Independent cited the SBU as saying at the time.
The Lieutenant General was also listed in a sprawling unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered to be enemies of the country called Myrotvorets (Peacemaker). A photograph of Kirillov on the website was overwritten with the word “Liquidated” in red letters on Tuesday morning.
Russia says Ukraine has carried out a string of targeted assassinations on its soil since the start of Moscow’s full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022.
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The most high-profile cases include the 2022 killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, in a car bomb attack, the murder of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a 2023 cafe bombing, and the shooting last year of a Russian submarine commander accused of war crimes by Kyiv.
Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defence troops, known as RKhBZ, which Kirillov commanded, are special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination and who are tasked with protecting ground forces operating in extreme conditions.
