Suspect in killing of general claims he was paid by Ukraine, Russia says

A man arrested on suspiction of killing a Russian general with a car bomb has pleased guilty to terrorism charges and said he was paid by the Ukrainian Security Service, Russian authorities said on Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed along with his asistant on Friday by a bomb in his car in Balashikha, outside the capital Moscow.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the attack, which was the second in four months targetting high-ranked Russian military offices that was blamed on Ukraine amid the conflict between the two countries.

Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov died on 17 December 2024 when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building exploded as he walked past on the way to his office. Ukraine’s security agency did acknowledge it was behind that attack.

Kirillov was the head of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, a special group of soldiers responsible for protecting the military from enemy use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons while ensuring operations in a contaminated environment.

He was under sanction from a number of countries, including the UK and Canada, due to his actions in the war against Ukraine.