HomeNEWSPutin Decries 'Serious Blunder' After Top General Assassinated

Putin Decries ‘Serious Blunder’ After Top General Assassinated


What’s New

Russian President Vladimir Putin decried the assassination of one of Moscow’s top generals as a “serious blunder” by special services, according to the Russian news outlet Meduza.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, was killed on Tuesday when a bomb, concealed in a scooter outside of his building, detonated. Russia arrested a suspect, an Uzbek citizen born in 1995, they believe was acting on instructions from Ukrainian handlers.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email outside normal business hours.

Why It Matters

Putin’s commentary on Kirillov’s assassination is significant because it is a direct criticism of Russian law enforcement and special services, which is an admission of a weakness. His messaging also may not resonate with members of those respective communities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Speaks at Conference
Russian President Vladimir Putin during his annual news conference on December 19. Putin spoke about the assassination of General Igor Kirillov and called it a “serious blunder” by Russian law enforcement.

Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press

What To Know

Putin spoke about Kirillov’s assassination at his annual news conference Thursday and referred to it as a “terrorist attack” that could have led to other casualties, as reported by RBC-Ukraine.

Kirillov was the chief of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, and the reward was allegedly $100,000 and the opportunity to relocate to a European Union country in exchange for carrying out the killing. Kirillov was killed just one day after Kyiv brought criminal charges against him. Ukraine’s special service (SBU) has since claimed responsibility for the killing.

The SBU alleged that Kirillov oversaw the deployment of chemical weapons that are banned in Ukraine. He was sanctioned by several nations, including the U.K. and Canada, for his involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Although Ukraine charged Kirillov in absentia with use of banned chemical weapons, Russia has also accused Kyiv of doing the same on numerous occasions, as recently as October. In that instance, Russia accused Ukraine of preparing to conduct a chemical weapons attack with the support of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance and seeking to blame Moscow. Russia also accused Kyiv of using chemical weapons in Kursk in August.

What People Are Saying

Putin said about the assassination: “This, of course, means that our law enforcement and special services are missing these attacks. We just need to improve this work and not allow such serious blunders for us.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “President #Putin on the assassination of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov: The Kiev regime has repeatedly committed such terrorist attacks against many Russian citizens. Not a word of condemnation has been uttered by the Western mainstream media, none whatsoever.”

Chad Scott, a U.S. Army Officer and former NATO exercise planner, wrote: “Remember when Trump killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani with a drone in Iraq at Baghdad International Airport? That wasn’t called terrorism, it was called a response and he was considered a legitimate target. Kirillov’s assassination was a response [a military one on a military target at that] and Russia has done far FAR worse to Ukraine than Iran did to the U.S. Kirillov did far worse to Ukraine than Soleimani did to the U.S. So, good for Ukraine, do it again. You are at war. The worst war in a generation. You are trying to survive, so keep killing every single Russian general if it means you get another day as a sovereign nation, cuz the U.S. kills terrible enemy generals for less, and I’m fine with that too.”

Keith Kellogg, president-elect Donald Trump‘s nominee for special envoy for the war in Ukraine, said during an interview with Fox Business: “There are rules of warfare, and there are certain things you just don’t do.” He added that he thought “hiring a mercenary to do it is not a good idea at all.”

What Happens Next

It remains to be seen how Moscow will handle the suspect arrested in Kirillov’s assassination and what message the punishment will send to Russia’s enemies.

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