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Russia News : Deputy chief of Russian military intelligence shot and wounded in Moscow
A senior Russian military intelligence officer, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant in Moscow on Friday, officials said, in the latest in a series of attacks on high-ranking officers that Moscow has attributed to Ukraine.
A senior Russian military intelligence officer, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant in Moscow on Friday, officials said, in the latest in a series of attacks on high-ranking officers that Moscow has attributed to Ukraine.
According to a statement from the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alekseyev — who has served as first deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) since 2011 — was shot multiple times outside an apartment building in the capital’s northwest and was taken to hospital for treatment. Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko confirmed the attack but did not name any suspects or offer a possible motive.
The incident occurred just one day after Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators concluded two days of talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at advancing negotiations to end the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegation was led by GRU chief Admiral Igor Kostyukov.
Russian authorities have repeatedly blamed Kyiv for a number of high-profile assassinations and attacks inside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, though responsibility for specific incidents has often been contested and Ukrainian officials have not commented on the latest shooting.
Recent targeted killings include:
- December 2025: A car bomb killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.
- April 2025: Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device planted in his car near his home outside Moscow; a suspect was arrested shortly afterwards.
- December 2024: Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter near his apartment; Kirillov’s assistant also died and Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility.
Russian officials have consistently denied that such attacks represent failures of internal security and instead have framed them as Western-backed sabotage or Ukrainian provocations.
