Russian Foreign Ministry Cites Kiev's Link to Killed Russian General

"If the investigation confirms that Ukraine is behind this, it will again demonstrate to the international community the barbaric and treacherous nature of the Kiev regime," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. There are reasons to believe that Ukrainian intelligence agencies could be involved in the killing of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the Main Operations Department of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"There are reasons to believe that Ukrainian intelligence agencies could be involved in the killing, given their ties to Yaroslav Moskalik going back to his time in the Minsk Contact Group and at the Normandy Four platform on resolving the conflict in southeastern Ukraine," she pointed out.

"If the investigation confirms that Ukraine is behind this, it will again demonstrate to the international community the barbaric and treacherous nature of the Kiev regime, which chooses to escalate military confrontation with Russia and irresponsibly ignores constructive proposals aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict."

The Foreign Ministry expressed its sincere condolences to Moskalik’s family and friends.

The statement said that an investigative task force is working at the crime scene. "According to it, the explosion was triggered by the detonation of an improvised explosive device containing destructive elements. A criminal case has been opened, which is being handled by the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia," it read.