Two more individuals have been arrested in connection with the murder of General Lieutenant Igor Kirillow, the head of Russia’s ABC defense troops, and his assistant, Major Ilja Polikarpow. The suspects are accused of committing a terrorist act as part of an organized group, according to the Russian Investigative Committee. Under the relevant article of the criminal code, they face a lifetime of imprisonment.
The individuals in question are Batuchan Totschijew and Ramasan Padijew. Investigators believe that they rented a room in a hostel in the Moscow region over the internet for the perpetrator, Achmadschon Kurbonow, who was supposed to seek refuge there after the terrorist attack. They allegedly did so on the instructions of an “as yet unidentified mastermind.” This person repeatedly transferred money to Totschijew’s account, whose photo has already been circulating on Telegram.
In return, Padijew personally visited the hostel, paid, and filmed the room from the inside and outside, according to the Investigative Committee. Later, he handed over the keys to the room to Kurbonow.
The perpetrator, Achmadschon Kurbonow, was arrested on the way to his hideout. He admitted to working with Ukraine’s special services. He told investigators that he was promised $100,000 and the opportunity to leave for an EU country for the act.
On December 17, 2024, as General Lieutenant Kirillow and his assistant Polikarpow were leaving a house in Moscow, Kurbonow remotely activated an explosive device, weighing around 500 grams of TNT equivalent, which he had placed on an electric scooter. The two officers were killed in the blast.
The official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, Swetlana Petrenko, reported that in cooperation with the FSB and the Ministry of the Interior, the organizers and perpetrators of the terrorist attack, as well as all those involved in the preparation and execution, would be identified.