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

A man suspected of killing a Russian general with a car bomb pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and said he was paid by the Ukrainian Security Service, Russian authorities said.

The Investigative Committee said Ignat Kuzin admitted he was paid to kill Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces.

Lt Gen Moskalik was killed on Friday by a bomb in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow.

Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the attack, the second in four months targeting a top Russian military officer that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine amid the conflict between the neighbouring countries.

Lt Gen Igor Kirillov was killed on December 17 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office.

Ukraine’s security agency acknowledged it was behind the attack.

Kirillov was the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemy’s use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment. His assistant also died in the attack.

Kirillov was under sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in the fighting in Ukraine.