London, Moscow trade barbs over UK media coverage of general’s killing

LONDON: Britain accused Moscow on Wednesday of “desperate rhetoric” after Russia´s ex-president threatened The Times newspaper over its coverage of the assassination of the head of the Russian army´s chemical weapons division.

Former president Dmitry Medvedev, the current deputy security council chair, appeared to suggest in a social media post on Wednesday that senior staff at The Times were “legitimate military targets” and should “be careful”.

It came hours after an editorial ran in the London paper describing the assassination of Igor Kirillov, a Russian army general, as “a legitimate act of defence” by Ukraine.

A source in Ukraine´s SBU security service has told AFP it was behind Tuesday´s killing, in what it called a “special operation” targeting a “war criminal”. “The people who committed the crimes against Russia... always have accomplices,” Medvedev posted on Telegram.

“And they, too, are now legitimate military targets. These may include the lousy jackals from The Times, who cowardly hid behind an editorial. Meaning, the publication´s entire management team.”

Responding to the remarks, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer´s spokesman said they were “simply the latest in a stream of desperate rhetoric coming out of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin´s government”.