A high-ranking official from Russian military intelligence sustained gunshot wounds in Moscow on Friday in an assault that follows a string of targeted killings of senior military personnel that Russia has attributed to Ukraine. Lieutenant-General Vladimir Alekseyev was shot multiple times by an unknown attacker at a residential complex in the northwest of Moscow and was subsequently taken to the hospital, as confirmed by Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko.
Petrenko did not disclose any potential suspects behind the attack on the 64-year-old individual who has held the position of the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, also known as the GRU, since 2011. Alekseyev had been honored with the Hero of Russia medal for his involvement in Moscow’s military operations in Syria. In June 2023, he was featured on state television conversing with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during a situation where Prigozhin’s Wagner Group seized control of the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don during a brief uprising.
The incident occurred a day following the conclusion of two-day discussions in Abu Dhabi involving Russian, Ukrainian, and U.S. negotiators aiming to resolve the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegation, led by military intelligence chief Admiral Igor Kostyukov, was part of the talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin was notified about the attack, stated Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who emphasized the need for heightened security measures for senior military officials amid the conflict in Ukraine.
In response to inquiries regarding the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned that it is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies to conduct an investigation, labeling the incident as an apparent “terrorist act” orchestrated by Ukraine to disrupt peace negotiations. Ukrainian authorities have not issued any statements concerning the attack.
Reportedly, the assailant, disguised as a delivery person, shot the general twice in the stairwell of his residential building, causing injuries to his foot and arm. Alekseyev attempted to disarm the gunman but was shot in the chest before the attacker fled, according to the account provided by the business daily Kommersant.
Born in Ukraine during the Soviet era, Alekseyev steadily climbed the ranks to oversee Russian military intelligence operations in various regions, including Syria and Ukraine. He had been sanctioned by the U.S. for alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election and had faced sanctions from the U.K. and the European Union over his suspected involvement in the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury, England.
Since Russia deployed troops to Ukraine nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have attributed a series of assassinations of military officials and public figures in Russia to Kyiv. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of these incidents but has not commented on the attack on Alekseyev.
In December, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, was killed in a car bombing. Similarly, in April, another senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, was fatally injured by an explosive device planted in his parked car near his residential complex just outside Moscow. An individual with ties to Ukraine admitted to carrying out the attack, claiming to have been paid by Ukraine’s security services.
Following Moskalik’s assassination, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged receiving a report from Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency about the elimination of top Russian military figures, suggesting that “justice inevitably comes,” although he did not specifically mention Moskalik. Additionally, in December 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, lost his life in a bombing incident involving an electric scooter placed outside his apartment building, with his assistant also perishing. Ukraine’s security service took credit for the attack.