Latest assassination could inflame Kremlin paranoia as military bloggers question competence of internal security services
James Kilner17 December 2024 1:27pm GMT
The carefully calculated assassination of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, was designed to spread fear and loathing.
Fear because, if Ukrainian special forces can kill a top commander in Moscow, nobody is safe.
Loathing because the assassination will intensify the Kremlin’s hatred of Ukraine in time for potential peace talks.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Ukraine had declared Kirillov a war criminal for approving the use of tear gas and other banned agents against Ukrainian forces. Essentially, he had been placed on its hit list.
Baza, a Telegram channel linked to the Russian security services, virtually admitted that the attack – right under the Kremlin’s nose – was an embarrassment.
Kirillov was hated in the West for acting as the mouthpiece for the Kremlin lie that the US was running chemical weapons factories in Ukraine and Georgia.
His murder fits an accelerating pattern of assassinations in Russia by Kyiv of senior Kremlin officials linked to the war. Five days ago, a senior scientist on the Kremlin’s missile programme was shot dead in a forest in a Moscow suburb.
Over the past couple of months, top Russian Air Force, Navy and Army commanders have been hunted down and killed in southern Russia.
In many ways, the assassination of Kirillov feels like a high point for Ukraine’s flamboyant assassination programme – a fine-tuned process that has taken out senior propagandists, collaborator officials, journalists, scientists and military officers in Russia and occupied Ukraine.
Bombs hidden under cars, in scooters and in vanity busts have been Ukrainian assassins’ preferred tool, but they have also shot dead their targets.
Readers on Moscow scooter bomb attack
Al Murt
“It is reminiscent of how the Israelis targeted Hezbollah. It looks like the Russians have been infiltrated at an extremely high level. No doubt the infiltrators are pushing for a brutal retaliation just before Christmas. That would be a disaster all round.”
I. Eglin
“At some stage there will be a negotiation, Ukraine doesn’t have the manpower to retake occupied areas where Russia has dug in and Russia doesn’t have the skill or weapons to beat Ukraine. This has been a massive failure for Russia, it will come out of the war weakened and ripe for further disintegration.”
Felix Leo
“Seems that Ukraine has learned from Israel the propaganda value of bold targeted assassinations. It inspires the troops and puts the wind up the opposition.”
Francis Jarvis
“This sends a very powerful message to Putin and his generals: keep looking behind you, because we are walking your streets, and watching you.”
Andew Flow
“This is something we’ll see more of, even if a ceasefire is agreed. War criminals will never face a court and the seeds of hatred that have been sowed will last for generations.”
LB
“Clear message: you are not safe in Moscow. Ukraine security knows where you live and can reach you.”
A blame game has begun following Kirillov’s death, and influential Russian military bloggers have started to question the competence of Russia’s internal security services.
Rybar, a Telegram channel with 1.3 million subscribers, said the assassination was bad for morale, even on the front line.
“No matter what successes we achieve on the battlefield, no matter what euphoria reigns and no matter how much we talk about seizing the initiative, the other side always has the opportunity to sting painfully,” it said. “You can’t relax at all.”
But what of the morale in the Kremlin itself, and its attitude towards potential peace talks with Ukraine?
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s security council, has called for immediate revenge – but could the assassination of Kirillov change Vladimir Putin’s resolve to push his attacks along the front line and force him to negotiate with Ukraine?
It is unlikely – after all, the Kremlin has already lost more than 700,000 soldiers in its war in Ukraine. One more dead soldier, even a top general murdered in Moscow, hardly seems to matter.
Analysts said the assassinations would unnerve the Kremlin. Putin, notoriously paranoid, and his acolytes will be looking over their shoulders.
Nigel Gould Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “Ukraine’s ability to target a serving general in Moscow will deeply disconcert elites. This is the most significant assassination so far.”
I really enjoyed reading this comment from :
Paul Wusteman
“We are a stone’s throw away from the best thing that has happened to the World since the destruction of Nazi Germany – ie the internal collapse of the Russian State.
500 years of autocracy, delusions, racism and savagery – unmitigated by any Reformation or Enlightenment – are close to ending. Whatever Russia’s natural advantages were, and the huge stock of money they had built up – just as no boxer, however good, can stand up to unending battering – the Russian economy is close to collapse now and the sanctions are permanent. The Rouble has collapsed, interest rates are sky high and there is a huge labour-shortage and so inflation is increasing. Surely, the very fact that Putin has to call on North Korea for assistance shows you that there is something very, very wrong in Moscow.
The Russians fully deserve what is happening to them. As there will be no victorious Allied presence in Russia, the Russians will be left to themselves to deal with the results – but backward and poor and so no threat to anybody.
This may be the only good thing happening for a while so let’s appreciate it.”
Very well said sir.
Some more comments hit the spot :
Mi Dillon
Good news. I would also been good to see the TV talking heads pushing for genocide in Ukraine to be targeted, as well as Putler and his inner circle (obviously).
david stewart
These aren’t generals as we know them but over promoted thugs.
Wiliam Roberts
Putin has for decades put fear in people worldwide that he could kill at any time, never has this been returned to him… now the Russian elite, will never feel safe again.. !! If only the British state had taken the gloves off and done the same the the IRA murdering of innocent woman and children blown to bits by IRA cowards hiding behind woman and bombs in prams.. we knew the identity of every one of them….
Simon Reeve
And then with a completely straight face, Vladolf Putler’s press office claim that one of their most effective terrorists was killed by… terrorism 😶
Ian Parkinson
Is it technically correct to call it murder, when you’ve killed a uniformed member of the army which is attacking you? Are all assassinations murder? Just wondering.
Henry Arnold
Let’s hope that Medvedev is on a list. He had better start employing someone to test his vodka before his daily indulgence. Ukraine will get him, sooner or later. Putin next?
Auclan McIntyre
Medvedev wants revenge? Well let’s give to him! I’d love to see the back of that Nazi-lover. He even dresses like Goering these days.
julian
Unfortunately violence is the only way to communicate with Putin. Let’s hope he gets the message, though frankly I’d rather he went the way of Gaddafi.
ANDREW MCLAREN
I am sick to death hearing that Putin has been humiliated (yet again).
His skin is so thick you could march him naked down whitehall with a stick of Blackpool Rock stuck up his jacksi and he still wouldn’t be humilitated.
Journalists please stop using this worn out expression.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
Judith Barnes
liliputin … your next breath could be your last.
Champagne on ice awaiting the joyous event.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
Yes, lots of good comments.
The humiliation of mafia land is left up to Ukraine, since the West is too busy with other things.