New details about the 29-year-old Uzbek man, Akhmad Kurbanov, arrested for the execution of Russian Army Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, are being released by Russian media citing the FSB.
According to this information, the Ukrainians promised Kurbanov a $100,000 reward and a stay in any country in Europe he wanted.
The 29-year-old Uzbek allegedly confessed that it was he who detonated the explosive device on the electric scooteras Kirilov and his 41-year-old aide, Major Polykarpov, were leaving a building in Moscow in the early hours of Tuesday.
In the video of the 29-year-old’s confession released by the FSB, Kurbanov can be heard saying “I came to Moscow with instructions from the Ukrainian secret services.”
Russian authorities also leaked that this was not the first time Kurbanov had been in Moscow. The previous one was reportedly in 2015 when he worked in a cafe before returning to Uzbekistan.
According to the FSB, the 29-year-old had rented a car from which the organizers of the execution could monitor online what was happening from the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
A spokeswoman for Russia’s Interior Ministry said Kurbanov was arrested in a village in the Moscow region and handed over for questioning.
With 300 grams of the explosive device
Kirilov’s execution by Ukrainian secret services with a scooter bomb left outside an apartment building entrance in a Moscow neighborhood has caused a global sensation.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, the gunmen used 300 grams of TNT in the bomb, a quantity of explosives that could either fit into the handles of the electric skate or be placed in a hidden spot.
Experts, as reported by the Telegraph, explain that 300 grams of explosives is enough to kill anyone less than the length of a broom from the skateboard.
The choice of putting explosives on the scooter was, according to BBC, a smart choice given that such vehicles are everywhere on all Moscow streets and therefore could not arouse suspicion in Kirillov and his escorts.
“The level of precision is a “hallmark” of the SBU, now renowned for its daring and successful assassinations,” the Telegraph adds.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions