Moscow — A deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence was shot and wounded in Moscow on Friday in an attack that follows a series of assassinations Russian officials have blamed on Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was shot several times by an unidentified assailant at an apartment building in northwest Moscow and was hospitalized, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said. Petrenko did not identify any suspects. Alekseyev has served as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence since 2011.
The shooting came a day after Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators concluded two days of talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine; the Russian delegation was led by military intelligence chief Adm. Igor Kostyukov.
Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for multiple killings of military officers and public figures inside Russia; Ukraine has acknowledged responsibility for some attacks but has not commented on the shooting of Alekseyev.
Recent high-profile killings cited by Russian officials include:
– December: A car bomb killed Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.
– April: Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed in his parked car near his apartment outside Moscow; a suspect was quickly arrested. After Moskalik’s death, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had received a report from the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency on the “liquidation” of top Russian military figures, saying “justice inevitably comes,” though he did not name Moskalik.
– December 2024: Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment; Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for that attack.
