"According to the investigation, on the morning of December 17, an explosive device, planted in a scooter parked next to the entrance of a residential building, was detonated on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow. As a result of the incident, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the armed forces of Russia, Igor Kirillov, and his assistant were killed," the committee wrote on Telegram.
A criminal case has been opened in connection with the incident in Moscow, which resulted in the deaths of two men, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Tuesday.
According to preliminary reports, the improvised explosive device was placed on an electric scooter positioned at the entrance of the house.
Investigators are at the scene and medical and bomb experts are being called in to assist in the operation, a search for the perpetrator is underway, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee said.
The power of the explosive device that went off in Moscow amounted to about 200 grams of TNT, emergency services told Sputnik.
The blast wave shattered the windows in the house opposite to where the bomb went off.
Russian security forces have begun studying video from surveillance cameras near the entrance to the building in southeast Moscow where Kirillov was killed, a representative of the capital's emergency services told Sputnik.
"Video footage from the explosion site on Ryazansky Prospekt was seized," the representative said, adding that specialists have started studying the materials.
The blast resulted in the deaths of Igor Kirillov and his assistant.
General Kirillov had “systematically and fearlessly exposed the heinous crimes of the Anglo-Saxons and NATO provocations,” noted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The death of Kirillov is an irreparable loss, his killers will be punished, said Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament.
"This is shock. An irreparable loss. Eternal memory. Condolences to the families of the victims. The murderers will be punished. Without a doubt and without mercy," Kosachev wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian Intelligence Cold Be Behind Kirillov's Murder
The killing of Kirillov could have been planned and carried out by the Ukrainian special services, Russian lawmaker Alexey Zhuravlev told Sputnik.
"I think hardly anyone doubts that the murder of General Kirillov was planned and carried out by the Ukrainian special services. They are proud of it, and what is most terrible is that they encourage terrorism in the West," Zhuravlev said.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Security Service brought charges against Kirillov "to enhance the propaganda effect," the lawmaker said, adding that the military was a dangerous and inconvenient figure for Europe and the US, as he exposed the experiments of the Ukrainian armed forces and the role of the West in this.