Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection troops, who died in an explosion in Moscow, was accused by the West of overseeing the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In Russia, he was seen as a dedicated patriot, defending the truth and exposing what he claimed were Western “crimes.”
Sources from Ukraine’s SBU security service indicated that they were behind the blast, calling it a special operation targeting a “war criminal” and a legitimate target.
According to Russian officials, Kirillov and his aide were killed by explosives planted in an electric scooter, which detonated as he left his building on Ryazansky Prospekt in southeastern Moscow.
Kirillov had gained notoriety for his provocative briefings at the Russian defense ministry, leading the UK Foreign Office to label him as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation.”
Beyond his role as a spokesperson, Kirillov headed the Timoshenko Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Academy before becoming the commander of the Russian army’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops in 2017.
The primary tasks of his unit included identifying hazards, protecting forces from contamination, and “causing loss to the enemy by using flame-incendiary means,” which likely refers to Russia’s flame-thrower systems and thermobaric warheads.
The UK Foreign Office accused the force Kirillov commanded of deploying “barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine,” citing reports of widespread use of riot control agents and toxic choking agents like chloropicrin.
