From RT
December 17, 2024
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces (RChBZ), has died in a blast together with his aide. According to investigators, an explosive device hidden in a scooter was detonated on Tuesday morning near the entrance of a residential building in Moscow’s south-east.
Here’s what is known about Kirillov:
- From September 2014 to April 2017, he served as the head of the Military Academy of the RChBZ named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko.
- In April 2017, Kirillov became the chief of the RChBZ troops.
- Kirillov dealt with anti-terrorism both domestically and abroad. He exposed the provocations of the controversial White Helmets volunteer organization in Syria, and participated in mitigating the consequences of natural and man-made disasters.
- Since the beginning of the military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Kirillov has spoken at briefings held by the Ministry of Defense, where he shared information about Ukrainian developments in the areas of radiological, chemical, and biological weapons. In March 2022, he announced that Ukrainian biolaboratories were studying the potential for transferring highly dangerous infections through migratory birds.
- The same month, Kirillov presented copies of documents that, according to him, confirmed the Pentagon’s funding of biological laboratories in Ukraine.
- In June 2024, Kirillov stated that spent nuclear fuel and hazardous chemical waste were being imported into Ukraine for a potential “dirty bomb” creation. He added that radiochemical substances were still being brought into Ukraine for disposal. According to him, these supplies were overseen by Andrey Yermak, Vladimir Zelensky’s right-hand man, with primary routes passing through Poland and Romania.
- In October 2024, the UK slapped Kirillov with sanctions after he accused Ukraine of preparing a false-flag chemical weapons attack with the aim of framing Russia and undermining its position at the OPCW. Kirillov noted that NATO had provided Ukraine with a much larger amount of chemical protective equipment than the country actually needs, calling it further evidence of an impending plot.
- In November 2024, Kirillov said that Ukraine planned to seize a nuclear power plant during its large-scale incursion into the Kursk Region.
- Kirillov was killed in the blast one day after Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) formally declared him a suspect in the alleged use of chemical weapons against Kiev’s military. The general rejected claims that Russia had been attacking Ukraine with riot control agents and chemical weapons, recalling that the OPCW had confirmed the complete destruction of all Russian chemical weapons stockpiles in 2017.
Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who, along with his assistant, was killed on Tuesday in a Moscow assassination allegedly carried out by Ukraine, was the Russian military’s top official on the hazards posed by weapons of mass destruction.
Kirillov commanded the military branch responsible for protecting troops and civilians from chemical and biological weapons, and from the radioactive fallout of a nuclear strike or ‘dirty bomb’ attack. He was also in charge of military investigations into numerous high-profile cases directly and indirectly involving Russia.
He delivered over 40 briefings about the findings made by specialists under his command since being appointed in 2017. He also regularly offered his expert opinion to Russian officials and the media. His work came as allegations of chemical weapons use became an increasingly frequent tool in Western foreign policy over the past decade.
Syria
A turning point was arguably the war in Syria and claims by then-US President Barack Obama that Damascus had deployed chemical weapons against opposition forces, thus crossing an alleged ‘red line’. In a Russia-mediated attempt to deflate tensions, the Syrian government agreed in 2013 to destroy all of its declared stockpiles of such weapons.
However, more incidents followed, which the West blamed on government forces, alleging that Damascus never actually fulfilled its obligations. Moscow, meanwhile, maintained that anti-government groups were conducting false flag operations, while foreign-funded organizations, such as the notorious White Helmets, were providing media support.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has the mandate to investigate such allegations, was compromised by Western influence, Russia believes.
“Syrian authorities demanded on numerous occasions that the OPCW deploy specialists on the ground [for investigation], but received refusals that cited lack of security,” Kirillov said during a briefing in 2018, as he detailed cases of alleged manufacturing of chemical weapons by militant groups.
The same year, the OPCW faced what was arguably its worst internal crisis while investigating a chemical attack in the city of Douma.
According to whistleblowers, its top management suppressed findings by field investigators and manipulated testimony to implicate Damascus. Dissenting scientists argued behind closed doors that the evidence contradicted such a claim, only to be dismissed as disgruntled employees when they went public.
Kirillov reported in 2019 that Russian troops deployed in Syria conducted hundreds of tests for traces of chemical weapons as part of their monitoring mission.
Novichok
Moscow was accused of deploying a chemical weapon in 2018, after Andrey Skripal, a Russian intelligence defector, and his daughter fell ill in Salisbury, Great Britain. London and Western media claimed that they were poisoned with Novichok, a toxic chemical allegedly developed exclusively by the Soviet military.
Although civilian officials were responsible for Moscow’s messaging over the incident, Kirillov was called in to set the record straight about Novichok’s “Russian” nature. Western nations, including the UK, have chemical weapons programs of their own with enough expertise to synthesize highly lethal compounds, he pointed out.
The US and its allies had an opportunity to gain insight into Soviet research, including from chemists involved in it, he added during a briefing in 2018. A scientist named Vil Mirzayanov was the first person to discuss the program dubbed Novichok publicly after moving to the US.
He went as far as to publish a formula for one of the chemicals developed by the USSR, which Kirillov said was deeply irresponsible and posed a proliferation threat.
Ukraine and US-led biolabs
A significant part of Kirillov’s reports in the media focused on the Ukraine conflict after it escalated into open hostilities with Russia in 2022. Some of them documented alleged use of chemical agents by Ukrainian troops on the battlefield or warned of possible provocations by Kiev.
Others dealt with a network of US-backed microbiological labs, which have been a source of major concern for Russia and other countries. Washington claims that the Pentagon-funded activities by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency are merely meant to detect and identify naturally emerging threats. Critics, however, believe the program pursued more sinister aims.
Kirillov claimed that the US evacuated some 16,000 relevant samples from Ukraine while other pieces of evidence were destroyed. But some materials were captured by the Russian military, giving Moscow a glimpse into the clandestine research, the late general claimed.
With his visor up
In October, the UK placed personal sanctions on Kirillov, along with the entire Russian military branch under his command. London cited Kiev’s claims that the general was responsible for using chemical weapons in the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has consistently denied such accusations, insisting it destroyed such materials back in 2017.
The Ukrainian security service (SBU) announced formal charges against Kirillov hours before his murder. A source in the agency told the media that the assassination was its operation against a “war criminal.”
Kirillov spent years “exposing the crimes of the Anglo-Americans,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on his death.
“He worked without fear. Did not hide behind anyone’s back. Walked with his visor up. For the motherland and the truth,” she added.
Italians protest Ukraine’s terrorist killing of Russian general (VIDEO)
Demonstrators in the city of Genoa have accused the EU and NATO of supporting Kiev’s terrorism
December 22, 2024
Dozens of people took to streets in the Italian city of Genoa to pay tribute to Russian General Igor Kirillov and to condemn the EU and NATO for backing Kiev during the conflict with Russia. Kirillov was killed in a Ukrainian terrorist attack earlier this week.
Kirillov, who headed Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces, and his aide, Lieutenant Colonel Ilya Polikarpov, were assassinated by an improvised explosive device planted on an electric scooter parked outside a residential building in Moscow on Tuesday morning.
The next day, a man from Uzbekistan was arrested for allegedly carrying out the attack. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the suspect admitted that he had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill the general in exchange for a $100,000 reward and an exit route to a European country.
Footage made during the rally in Genoa captured the demonstrators tossing EU and NATO flags on the pavement and trampling on them.
They displayed banners declaring, among other things, that Italy is grateful to Kirillov for his service and remembers the Russian general, who became “a victim of terrorism by Ukraine and NATO.”
Many also carried the Italian and Russian national flags. A replica of the Victory Banner, which is a symbol of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during the Second World War, was also seen on display.
During his tenure, Kirillov had frequently accused the US of conducting secretive biological research under the guise of humanitarian aid and military cooperation in Ukraine and other countries. He also blamed Kiev for using banned chemical weapons on the battlefield amid the conflict with Moscow.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a terrorist attack perpetrated through “publicly dangerous” means.
“The regime in Kiev has repeatedly committed such crimes – terrorist attacks against many citizens of Russia,” Putin said, adding that “we have never heard condemnation of such terrorist attacks” in the West.
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