As we have been reporting, a high-ranking Russian military officer has been killed in an explosion in Moscow this morning.
Igor Kirillov had been the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defence forces since 2017.
Here’s a look at what else we know about him:
The 54-year-old was born on 13 July 1970 in Kostroma, a riverside city in western Russia.
He went on to attend Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defence, graduating in 2007.
During his time there, between 1991 and 1995, he served as a platoon commander in the Western Group of Forces in Germany and the Moscow Military District.
After graduating, he occupied various posts in Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defence forces, eventually becoming the chief there in 2017.
Throughout his military career, he was known for helping to develop the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system.
He has been accused of using banned chemical weapons during the war in Ukraine as well as the toxic choking agent chloropicrin.
The UK government had sanctioned him for “helping deploy these barbaric weapons” and for being a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.