A high-ranking officer of Russian military intelligence sustained gunshot wounds in Moscow on Friday in an assault following a series of targeted killings of senior military personnel that Russia has attributed to Ukraine. Lt.-Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was shot multiple times by an unidentified assailant at an apartment complex in northwest Moscow and was subsequently hospitalized, as per Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko.
Petrenko refrained from speculating on the perpetrator behind the attack on the 64-year-old, who has been serving as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, also known as the GRU, since 2011. Alekseyev, recognized with the Hero of Russia award for his involvement in Moscow’s military operations in Syria, was featured on state television in June 2023 conversing with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin when the Wagner Group, led by Prigozhin, took control of the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don during a brief insurrection.
The incident occurred a day after Russian, Ukrainian, and U.S. negotiators concluded talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at resolving the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegation was headed by Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of military intelligence.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the attack, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who emphasized the need for enhanced security measures for senior military officials during the Ukrainian conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov referred to the incident as a likely “terrorist act” orchestrated by Ukraine to disrupt peace negotiations.
Ukrainian authorities have refrained from commenting on the attack. The business newspaper Kommersant reported that the assailant, posing as a delivery person, shot the general twice in the stairwell of his apartment complex, injuring him in the foot and arm. Alekseyev attempted to disarm the attacker and was shot in the chest before the assailant fled.
Alekseyev, born in Ukraine during the Soviet era, ascended through the ranks to oversee Russian military intelligence operations in Syria, Ukraine, and other regions. He was sanctioned by the U.S., U.K., and EU for his alleged involvement in various incidents, including interference in the 2016 U.S. election and the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, with the nerve agent Novichok.
Since Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine nearly four years ago, Moscow has attributed several assassinations of military officials and public figures in Russia to Kyiv, with Ukraine claiming responsibility for some of the incidents. In December, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, was killed in a car bombing. In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, was assassinated by an explosive device placed in his parked car near his residence outside Moscow.
A Russian national, formerly residing in Ukraine, confessed to carrying out the attack, claiming payment from Ukraine’s security services. Following Moskalik’s death, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the elimination of top Russian military figures and alluded to the inevitability of justice prevailing. Additionally, in December 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, in charge of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb concealed on an electric scooter outside his residence, with his assistant also perishing. Ukraine’s security service took responsibility for the attack.
