Putin comments on top general's assassination | 19 Dec 2024 | The murder of Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was an act of terrorism, President Vladimir Putin has insisted, adding that Kiev has repeatedly commissioned such attacks on Russian soil without receiving any condemnation in the West. Putin made the remarks on Thursday during his annual end-of-year press conference, describing the assassination of the general, who headed the country's Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, as a terrorist attack perpetrated through "publicly dangerous" means. "The regime in Kiev has repeatedly committed such crimes -- terrorist attacks against many citizens of Russia. And even now, in the Kursk region, they execute civilians...they have been killing journalists. We have never heard condemnation of such terrorist attacks" in the West, Putin stated.