Early on the morning of December 17, an explosion in central Moscow killed Russian general Igor Kirillov. As the head of Russia’s radioactive, chemical, and biological defense forces, Kirillov wasn’t just any military officer; in addition to allegedly ordering attacks using banned weapons, he was also a prolific source of disinformation about Ukraine and the West. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), which had charged Kirillov in absentia just a day earlier, quickly claimed responsibility for the assassination. For insight into the significance of Kirillov’s death and the goals of Ukraine’s unconventional operations more broadly, Meduza spoke to Olga Lautman, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
‘A major blow to the Kremlin’ Why the killing of Russian chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov is more than just a military setback
