A military court in Moscow on Wednesday sentenced an Uzbek man to life in prison after he was found guilty of assassinating the head of the Russian army’s chemical weapons unit.
Akhmadzhon Kurbonov earlier admitted to killing Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who headed the military’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, and his assistant in December 2024 as they left an apartment building in southeastern Moscow.
Kirillov is the highest-ranking Russian general to have been assassinated since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was among at least 19 Russian generals killed since February 2022.
Kurbonov was accused of making a bomb that he later attached to an electric scooter and detonated it remotely outside Kirillov’s apartment building.
The Second Western District Military Court found him guilty on all counts and handed him a life sentence at a maximum-security prison.
Three other defendants in the case received prison sentences of up to 25 years.
“Depending on their roles, the defendants were found guilty of participating in a terrorist organization, committing a terrorist act as part of an organized group, illegal trafficking of explosives and receiving training for terrorist activities,” the Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative body, said in a statement.
Robert Safaryan, a native of Azerbaijan who was accused of delivering the explosives disguised as household goods from Poland, received a 25-year prison sentence.
Batukhan Tochiyev and Ramazan Padiyev, both natives of Russia’s republic of Ingushetia, were accused of providing a safe house for Kurbonov after the attack. They received prison sentences of 22 years and 18 years, respectively.
The Investigative Committee said it was continuing an investigation into the attack’s alleged mastermind, an unidentified Ukrainian citizen believed to be residing in the EU, as well as other alleged accomplices. It said they were placed on an international wanted list.
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