Catherine (00:00):
Sources within Ukraine's Security Services, the SBU, have told the BBC that it was behind a bomb attack in Moscow which killed a senior Russian general in charge of the country's nuclear, chemical, and biological defense. Igor Kirillov and his assistant were blown up as they left an apartment building around six kilometers southeast of the Kremlin.
(00:22)
On Monday, Ukrainian prosecutors charged Lieutenant General Kirillov with using banned chemical weapons. Russian investigators say the bomb was hidden in a scooter and detonated remotely. The SBU source has described Mr. Kirillov as a legitimate target and a war criminal who gave orders to use banned chemical weapons against Ukraine's military.
(00:46)
These here are the live pictures in Moscow outside that apartment block where the general was killed. Our correspondent on the scene, our Russia editor, says that investigators are there trying to understand what happened. Here is Steve Rosenberg with the latest.
Steve Rosenberg (01:05):
Well, this is what we know so far. This is based on what Russian investigators have said. They say that the bomb was hidden in a scooter by the entrance to an apartment block and detonated remotely. They say that Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed along with his assistant.
(01:23)
Now Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was head of Russia's Nuclear, Chemical, Biological Protection Forces. So this is a senior figure killed in this attack.
(01:34)
Images that have been coming in from the scene show considerable damage to the entrance to that block of flats. A lot of bomb damage, a lot of police and investigators on the scene now looking for clues.
(01:48)
As you mentioned yesterday, Ukraine's Security Service actually charged the Russian general in absentia for allegedly using chemical weapons in Ukraine. He was actually sanctioned back in October by the British authorities who accused him, accused Russia of flagrant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
(02:13)
But dramatic scenes certainly in Moscow today. Typical sort of block of flats, apartment block, and residents completely shocked by what happened this morning, this significant, this considerable blast from this bomb that was hidden, as investigators say, in a scooter outside the entrance to this apartment block which has killed a senior Russian military figure.
Catherine (02:39):
We can now speak to Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia editor at BBC Monitoring. Vitaly, just tell us a bit more about what these Ukrainian sources have had to say today.
Vitaly Shevchenko (02:51):
Well, this is how it normally works, Catherine. They never go on the record officially saying, "We did it." There's no named figure from the Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, who has done it in the past. This is how they handled similar situations such as the one almost a year ago when a former Ukrainian MP who held strongly pro-Russian views, he was killed outside Moscow.
(03:29)
Back then, just as now, there were sources, unnamed sources, from the Ukrainian Security Service speaking to the media who said that, "We did it," but, as it were, unofficially and without any names to which these statements can be attributed.
(03:49)
Of course, this doesn't really detract from the message sent by Ukraine to Russia and the whole world, and the message is that, "Yeah, we can do it. We can assassinate senior, important figures within the Russian political and military establishment just four miles east of the Kremlin."
Catherine (04:11):
What do you think the response from the Russian authorities is likely to be?
Vitaly Shevchenko (04:16):
Well, this morning, so far, we've had a statement from the Russian Foreign Minister Spokesman Maria Zakharova, who praised General Igor Kirillov, saying that he fought staunchly against the Anglo-Saxons. That's the phrase that she normally uses for Russia's adversaries across the globe.
(04:39)
It's not inconceivable to assume that Russia will carry out strikes against Ukraine and possibly say that they are in retaliation for his death. That, of course, is if Russia admits that Ukraine or says that Ukraine did something like that right in the heart of Moscow.
(05:01)
But also we need to remember that all these missile strikes carried out by Russia, some of which, according to Moscow, were carried out in retribution for something, they didn't really need any reasons to do that during this war. This is what Russia does in Ukraine, attacking Ukraine's infrastructure to achieve its military objectives during the so-called special military operation, even if Russia says that these strikes are a response to something that Ukraine did.
(05:35)
So this is probably what's going to happen today as well. But we'll be looking to see what exactly Russian investigators say, who they blame for this attack. So far, there's been nothing out of Moscow on that score.
Catherine (05:51):
Vitaly, thank you. That's the BBC's Vitaly Shevchenko there. Just to let you know that we do have a live page on the BBC website with some of the latest developments on that story coming out of Moscow. Our colleagues at BBC Verify are also looking at some of the images that are coming in from the scene there in Moscow where this bomb attack explosion took place. So we'll bring you some of those details on our live page, but also here on BBC News.