Ahmadjon Kurbanov. Photo: rbk.ru
The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow has sentenced Uzbek citizen Ahmadjon Kurbanov to life imprisonment for the murder of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, in December 2024. Kurbanov pleaded guilty to carrying out a terrorist attack that killed the senior Russian officer, RBK reported.
In addition to the life sentence, the court ordered Kurbanov to pay a fine of 1 million rubles (about $13,000).
Three other defendants were also tried in the case. All received lengthy prison terms and smaller fines. According to investigators, Robert Safaryan, a native of Azerbaijan who delivered the explosives to the perpetrator, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Batukhan Tochiev and Ramazan Padiev, natives of Ingushetia who rented an apartment to Kurbanov, were sentenced to 22 years and 18 years in prison, respectively.
As media outlets note, Kurbanov admitted his guilt during the trial and actively cooperated with investigators. The other defendants insisted on their innocence. Tochiev and Padiev said they were only involved in renting out the apartment, while Safaryan claimed he did not know what was inside the package he handed over to Kurbanov.
In late December 2024, authorities reported that the suspect in the killing of General Kirillov had been charged under Article 205, Part 3(b) (“Commission of a terrorist act”), Article 222.1, Part 4 (“Illegal trafficking of explosive devices”), and Article 223.1, Part 3 (“Illegal manufacture of explosive devices”) of the Russian Criminal Code.
Igor Kirillov and his aide, Major Ilya Polikarpov, were killed on the morning of December 17, 2024, when a scooter packed with explosives detonated near the entrance of their apartment building. The suspect was detained the same day in the Balashikha urban district of the Moscow Region. He was identified as 29-year-old Uzbek citizen Ahmadjon Alijon ugli Kurbanov.
During questioning, Kurbanov said he had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services. He claimed he was promised $100,000 and assistance with relocating permanently to the European Union in exchange for carrying out the attack.
