AP

MOSCOW

Russia's security service said on Wednesday that it has detained an Uzbek citizen allegedly recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services for the assassination of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov.

Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, didn't name the suspect, but said he was born in 1995. It claimed that the suspect said he was recruited by Ukrainian Special Services (SBU).

Lt. Gen Kirillov was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine's security service levelled criminal charges against him. His assistant also died in the attack. A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack.

The FSB said the suspect had been promised a reward of USD 100,000 and permission to move to a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov.

The agency stated that, acting on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect travelled to Moscow, where he picked up a homemade explosive device. He then placed the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the entrance to the residential building where Kirillov lived.

The suspect then rented a car to monitor the location and set up a camera that live streamed footage from the scene to his handlers in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Once Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb. According to the FSB's statement, the suspect faces "a sentence of up to life imprisonment." 

Kirillov, 54, was the chief of the military's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces and was under sanctions from several countries, including the UK and Canada, for his actions in Moscow's military operation in Ukraine. 

On Monday, SBU opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons. Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and, in turn, has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.

Kirillov, who took his current job in 2017, held numerous briefings to accuse the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning to launch attacks with radioactive substances - claims that Ukraine and its Western allies rejected as propaganda.