US Denies Role in Assassination of Russian Army General

The US Department of Defense claims that Washington had nothing to do with the fatal bombing attack on the Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov.

When asked to comment on the issue during a regular press briefing, US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "I don’t have any assessment. It’s not something that we were involved in."

"I can tell you that the United States was not aware of it in advance and was not involved," he added.

The US Department of Defense has nothing to do with the fatal bombing attack on Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, and does not support this kind of activities," Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder has also told reporters.

"I can tell you, we were not aware of this operation in advance. We do not support or enable those kinds of activities," he said.

On the morning of December 17, an explosive device planted in a scooter exploded near the entrance of a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow, investigators revealed.

Kirillov, 54, and his aide were killed in the blast.

The Russian Investigative Committee has classified the explosion as a terrorist attack, Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told TASS.

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Earlier, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev described the attack as "the agony of the Banderite regime" and as the Kyiv government’s attempt "to justify its shaky existence in the eyes of its Western patrons and prolong the deadly hostilities." He also said that the Kyiv regime had admitted its role in plotting the terrorist attack.