Once upon a time, there was an army general . . .

Unfortunately, this is not a fairy tale; there is no handsome prince or beautiful princess, no magical frog, and no “happily ever after” ending. Instead, there is a middle-aged man who headed the radiological, biological and chemical forces of Russia, and had been charged in Ukraine, in absentia, with having used chemical weapons on that country’s military as part of Russia’s continuing war of attrition.

And the day after he was convicted of those charges in Ukraine, he was dead . . . killed by a remote-controlled bomb planted in a motor scooter that had been parked outside his apartment building in an upscale neighborhood in Moscow, awaiting his exit. The bomb also took the life of Kirillov’s aide, Ilya Polikarpov.

Shockingly, Ukraine immediately claimed “credit” for the killing of the man they call a “legitimate military target.”

Or is it really so shocking that a country that has been invaded without justification; seen its civilian population, its cities and infrastructure decimated by bombs, missiles and drones for nearly three years; and lost tens of thousands of its fighting forces, would seek to fight back in its own defense?

Russia, of course, immediately jumped into action with the usual outraged recriminations and threats of retribution:

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council: “Law enforcement agencies must find the killers in Russia and everything must be done to destroy the perpetrators who are in Kyiv.” [Maria Kostenko, Victoria Butenko, Nectar Gan, Christian Edwards and Darya Tarasova, CNN, December 17, 2024.]

Konstantin Kosachev, Chair of the Federation Council’s Foreign Relations Committee, was “shocked” by the “irreparable loss” of Kirillov: “The murderers will be punished. Without a doubt and without mercy.” [Id.]

Andrey Kartapolov, member of the State Duma: “[Those involved] will be found and punished.”

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry: “[Kirillov had been] systematically exposing the crimes [of the West for many years, including] the deadly activities of American biolabs in Ukraine.” [Id.] She added that: “All those who welcome terrorist attacks or deliberately keep their silence are accomplices … the silence of the UN Secretariat is an obvious sign of corruption.” [Id.] And: “The terrorist attack in Moscow was a continuation and development of the spiral of approval by the West of the war crimes of the militants of the Kyiv regime.” [RFE/RL, December 17, 2024.]

Sure . . . blame the West, as always. Never mind that it was Russia that began the war on February 24, 2022, when its armed forces crossed the border into Ukraine, without provocation. Or that Kirillov specifically was accused of having used chemical weapons — an estimated 5,000 times — against the Ukrainian military. [Id.]

*. *. *

My first thought upon reading of Kirillov’s death was to question whether picking off individuals assassination-style is a legitimate tactic in modern warfare. This is, after all, the fourth killing of prominent military figures on Russian terrritory in the past two months.

And then I read about the Russian drones that have been tracking down — hunting, if you will — individual civilians, in Ukraine. There are verified videos of drones aiming at specific vehicles, a man standing by the window inside his apartment, and a woman walking along the street who was followed by a drone that finally caught up with her and blew her foot apart. [RFE/RL, December 17, 2024.]

So, yeah . . . if Ukraine’s civilian citizens are being hunted down like so many helpless animals, then I suppose you could justify taking out a member of the opposing military.

“All’s fair . . .”

*. *. *

But Vladimir Putin can’t just sit back and appear to accept this act as one of the spoils of war. Aside from blaming the West, he needs a victory of his own. He needs to apprehend a perpetrator.

And in record time — just one day after the death of General Kirillov — a 29-year-old man named Akhmad Kurbanov from Uzbekistan was arrested and charged with the crime. Russia’s Investigative Committee said he had been recruited by Ukraine’s SBU security service and had acted on its instructions. In return, he had allegedly been offered a reward of $100,000 in cash and a new life in a European country.

The Committee said that he had “received a homemade explosive device and placed it on an electric scooter which he parked at the entrance to the residential building where Igor Kirillov lived.” They claimed he had rented a car and fitted it with a surveillance camera that was monitored by his Ukrainian bosses in Dnipro, who remotely detonated the bomb when they saw Kirillov and his aide leave the building. [Anna Chernova, Christian Edwards and Edward Szekeres, CNN, December 18, 2024.]

But who is this mysterious Uzbek man? Where are the details and the pictures of his arrest? Is he a scapegoat? Is he even real?

Knowing of Russia’s well-developed skill at playing the blame game, anything is possible. I can imagine several credible scenarios; but they would amount to nothing more than speculation at this point, so I’ll keep my imaginings to myself for the time being.

But Russia’s Uzbek and other Central Asian populations are understandably nervous right now, recalling Chechnya and fearing a possible coming purge of their own ethnic groups.

And who can blame them?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/19/24