Igor Kirillov

Igor Anatolyevich Kirillov (; 13 July 197017 December 2024) was a Russian lieutenant general. He was the head of the Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces. He held a Candidate of Military Sciences degree. He was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation (2024, posthumous) and was a Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation, becoming the first person to receive both honors.

Kirillov's military unit has been accused by the US and Ukraine of having used the chemical weapon chloropicrin during the Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, outlawed internationally by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia has ratified. He was subject to multiple economic sanctions and a Ukrainian arrest warrant for deploying chloropicrin against enemy troops.

On 17 December 2024, Kirillov was killed in Moscow by the detonation of an explosive device as a result of a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) special operation.

Biography Igor Kirillov was born on 13July 1970 in Kostroma, Russian Soviet Republic.

Kirillov was in the Armed Forces of the USSR from 1987. In 1991, he graduated with honours from the Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defense. From 1991 to 1994, he served as a platoon commander in the Western Group of Forces. After the latter left Germany, he served in the Moscow Military District. From 1995, he held positions successively from company commander to brigade commander of a separate radiation, chemical, and biological protection brigade.

From 2005 to 2007, Kirillov studied at the NBC Protection Military Academy.

From 2009, Kirillov served in various positions in the Office of the Chief of the Russian NBC Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces.

In September 2014, Kirillov was appointed head of the Timoshenko NBC Protection Military Academy.

In April 2017, Kirillov became the head of the NBC Protection Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He took part in the creation and adoption of the new multiple rocket launcher TOS-2 "Tosochka".

Russian invasion of Ukraine Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for direct participation in military actions against a sovereign state, Kirillov was added to international sanctions lists, including Canada (23 February 2022), and the United Kingdom (8 October 2024).

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, since February 2022, there have been 4,800 cases of deployment of chemical weapons by Russia in the invasion of Ukraine. Kirillov appeared regularly on Russian television during the war, where he accused the U.S. of helping Ukraine build secret laboratories for biological weapons and claimed Ukraine was developing a dirty bomb, claims for which there is no evidence. According to Ukrainian officials, over 2,000 troops were hospitalized and three died as a result of chemical weapons attacks under Kirillov's command.

Assassination

Kirillov was killed in an explosion in Moscow on 17December 2024 at approximately 6:12a.m.MSK. He died along with an assistant whose name was given by Russian authorities as Ilya Polikarpov According to Russian state media, the explosive device contained approximately the same amount of explosives as those used in the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings that killed 40 people and injured 80.

Reactions The Security Service of Ukraine claimed responsibility for the assassination. A source in the Security Service of Ukraine stated that Kirillov "was a war criminal and a perfectly legitimate target" and warned that "such a disgraceful end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians."

Following the assassination, former president Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, pledged "inevitable retaliation" against Ukraine's military and political leadership.

Arrest of suspect On 18December, a day after the assassination, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that a male 29-year-old Uzbek national had been arrested under suspicion of involvement in the assassination. The FSB claimed that the suspect had confessed that he was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence agencies to conduct the assassination and that the operation had been livestreamed by Ukrainian operatives based in Dnipro. He was subsequently named as Akhmad Kurbanov and has been remanded for two months pre-trial detention. A video circulated on Telegram shows Kurbanov stating that he was acting on instructions from the Security Service of Ukraine and had been promised $100,000 and a "european passport".

On 21 January 2026, Kurbanov was sentenced to life imprisonment. Three accomplices received prison terms ranging from 18 to 25 years.

Awards Hero of the Russian Federation (December 2024; posthumous); Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (16 August 2021) – for exceptional labour merits, dedication, and professionalism displayed in carrying out important state tasks; Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd Class; Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th Class;