Elimination of General Kirillov in Moscow caused a violent reaction in Russia: ISW provides details

On December 16, the Russian authorities attempted to present the elimination of Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian chemical, biological and radioactive defense forces, by the Security Service of Ukraine in Moscow as an "unprovoked act of terror." The reason for this was the "truth" he told about "American biolabs in Ukraine" and other theses that the Kremlin used to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian Z-bloggers and propagandists of various levels went into hysterics and demanded the murder of representatives of Ukraine's military and political leadership. The details were reported by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Analysts, having analyzed numerous statements by Russian propagandists and official speakers, came to the following conclusion: Russia has decided to present Kirillov's liquidation as an "unprovoked terrorist act", keeping silent about the fact that he was involved in the preparation of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine and was directly responsible for Russian chemical attacks and information operations against Ukraine.

For example, Svetlana Petrenko, a representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, stated that the agency had qualified the liquidation of Kirillov and his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, as a "terrorist act." And Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized his significant contribution to the spread of numerous fakes about the alleged use of chemical and biological weapons against Russia by Ukraine and NATO: according to her, this Russian lieutenant general "for many years systematically exposed the crimes of the Anglo-Saxons with facts in hand."

In this pompous formulation, ISW analysts agreed only with the statement about Kirillov's long-term and systematic activities, though in spreading outright fakes and nonsensical statements.

In particular, Kirillov claimed that the United States had set up "biological laboratories" in Ukraine and other neighboring countries, and that the Pentagon had allegedly deliberately destroyed the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant to infect Russians with dangerous infectious diseases through mosquitoes.

Fakes about "American biolabs in Ukraine," ISW added, were used by the Kremlin as a pretext for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to numerous Russian propagandists and officials, including Vladimir Chizhov, a member of the Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, Western and Ukrainian security forces "hated" Kirillov for "exposing Western provocations in Russia."

Whatever the case, Kirillov's elimination scared and stirred up the ultranationalist segment of the Russian information space. Numerous Z-bloggers and "hurray patriots" were one after another calling on the Kremlin to take revenge and strike at Ukraine's military and political leadership.

In particular, one Kremlin-linked military blogger called on Russian authorities to target Ukrainian commanders instead of "launching 100 missiles at energy infrastructure" and lamented that Russia remains vulnerable to Ukrainian agents on Russian territory.

"Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev tried to calm the Russian ultranationalist crowd by claiming that the Russian military would avenge Kirillov's death by targeting Ukraine's military and political leadership - something the Kremlin has long sought to do," ISW added.

Another propagandist believes that Kirillov's elimination has once again confirmed that Ukrainians are capable of conducting complex operations despite Russia's successes on the front lines, and hinted that more Russians should stop treating Russia's war in Ukraine as a war in Donbas.

A third military blogger argued that Russia cannot win this war simply by launching unguided aerial bombs and Oreshnik ballistic missiles at Ukraine. He, like his many "like-minded people," is right: Russia needs to destroy the Ukrainian military and political leadership. Such statements, analysts say, "actually undermine the Kremlin's recent attempts to present Oreshnik as 'Russia's newest powerful weapon.

On the morning of December 17, Kirillov and his assistant were killed in an explosion in Moscow. According to eyewitnesses, a "pop that resembled an explosion" sounded around 6 a.m. local time and woke up "half the neighborhood."

The operation was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine. Only the day before, the Service had notified Kirillov in absentia of suspicion because of orders to use chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers at the front. For this grave war crime, the Russian general was finally punished.

The SBU immediately stated that the explosives were planted in an electric scooter. It was photographed by eyewitnesses who were at the site of the explosion, and it was mangled by the explosion. This was confirmed by a video that appeared later, showing the moment of the liquidation of Kirillov and his assistant.

While the Russian Investigative Committee was opening a case under the article on "terrorist attack" and preparing to press the Russian police who had not fenced off the scene, allowing ordinary citizens to take photos and videos, Russian propagandists threw a tantrum over the liquidation of Lieutenant General Kirillov and dreamed of strikes on Kyiv.

The liquidated Russian general repeatedly made statements about "Pentagon biolabs in Ukraine" that allegedly worked on creating "bioweapons against Russians": Kirillov imagined them as geese, bats, and mosquitoes infected with exotic diseases that would bite only Russian citizens.

He also generated fake accusations against the Defense Forces about their alleged use of chemical weapons, and ordered the actual use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!