Russia detains suspected murderer of General Kirillov
Who was really behind the atrocity? And what consequences may we may expect to improve Russian domestic security? to take revenge for this act of terror?Earlier today, Reuters reported on the arrest by Russian investigative authorities of a 29-year-old Uzbek man suspected of having carried out the assassination yesterday of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the military’s nuclear, chemical and biological defense forces. We are told that the detainee has confessed to the crime and has said he was given this project by Ukrainian intelligence, who offered him a $100,000 reward for success and a comfortable life somewhere in Western Europe.
As we knew already hours after the crime yesterday, the Ukraine’s SBU security service claimed responsibility.
So far, so good. But does the trail of responsibility for the assassination end there? Not in the view of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other spokesmen for the country’s top leadership.
In her Briefing to journalists earlier today, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained why General Kirillov would have been targeted by “the Anglo-Saxons” for his many years spent exposing their egregious violations of international law by (the U.S.) operating biological laboratories in Ukraine and elsewhere that targeted specific ethnic groups including Slavs, for his exposing the false flag operations of the white helmets and other British agents in Syria who staged phony chemical attacks to lay at the door of the Assad regime and its Russian backers, for his exposing the falsehoods of the alleged Russian use of Novichok against the Skripals in Salisbury, U.K., and for exposing the use of chemical agents by Ukrainians on the battlefield in the ongoing war with Russia. She identified the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ as the ‘main beneficiaries of the Kiev regime’s terrorist activities.’ More importantly, she called the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ ‘the ones who masterminded all their activities.’
Seeing where the Russian argumentation was headed and knowing that it would be put before the United Nations Security Council on 20 December, the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Matthew Miller flatly denied that the U.S. had foreknowledge or played any role in the assassination of General Kirillov.
However, by ‘Anglo-Saxons’ Zakharova very likely had in mind the Brits, not the Yankees. At least that is what I conclude after listening to the discussion of the murder of Kirillov on yesterday’s Evening with Vladimir Solovyov news and analysis show. The host and panelists were of one mind that this terrorist act had all the hallmarks of the MI6 British intelligence operatives, the very same gents who were likely involved in poisoning Navalny in his distant prison camp. Cold blooded murder seems to be their stock in trade. And it was the British, after all, who had applied sanctions against General Kirillov. In this matter, as in everything else to do with the Ukraine conflict, they were the attack dogs rather than the poodles of Washington.
Otherwise, last night’s discussion of the murder on the Solovyov show was noteworthy for raising yet again the issue of ending the suspension of capital punishment in Russia precisely for cases of terrorists. This issue arose following each of the widely publicized terror attacks these past couple of years, including the Crocus entertainment center attack and the bombing murder of the journalist Darya Dugina. It was also worth paying attention to because of the attention given to the modest life style of Kirillov and other high Russian military officials, as we saw from photos of the general’s apartment building, and the absence of security details to assure their safety. It was not clear from the discussion how better protection can be provided.
The identification of the United Kingdom as the likely masterminds of the murder of General Kirillov was repeated in this afternoon’s edition of The Great Game. It was noted that while Western media generally have not issued any condemnations of this act of terror, the British stood out in their open support for such acts. The editorial in today’s London Times says it all:
The assassination of a Russian general is a legitimate act of defence by a threatened nation. Amid political flux, western governments must step up to support for Kyiv.
One panelist opined that the British elites, which The Times represents, are defending the assassination, because they know that their intelligence operatives were involved in its preparation.
The Russian public is now awaiting what further information about the Ukrainian handlers of the confessed murderer will come out during the interrogation of the suspect. In contrast to the perpetrators of the Crocus center terrorists who were bloodied and damaged goods when shown before cameras after their apprehension, the Uzbek murderer of the general seemed not to have a scratch on him. How well he fares under interrogation remains to be seen. More interesting, of course, is what actions against Kiev the Kremlin will now order in retaliation for this atrocity in a residential neighborhood of Moscow.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024