The second-highest official in Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, was reportedly shot and injured in Moscow in what investigators are describing as an assassination attempt.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev was hospitalized on February 6 after being shot multiple times, including in the back, according to a statement from the Russian Investigative Committee. His current condition remains unknown.
The attackers fled the scene, authorities said. Unconfirmed media reports suggest that Alexeyev was shot on the stairs of his residence while leaving the building.
Alexeyev serves as deputy commander of the GRU, the Ministry of Defense’s intelligence branch known for operations including sabotage, assassinations, espionage, and cyber attacks.
He was previously implicated by the UK in the near-fatal Novichok poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in 2018, an attack that also caused the accidental death of a British woman exposed to the nerve agent.
If confirmed, this would be the latest in a series of attacks on senior Russian military officials, many of which have occurred in Moscow. Suspicion has largely fallen on Ukrainian intelligence agencies, which have carried out sabotage and assassination operations inside Russia in recent years.
Recent high-profile incidents include:
- December: Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff, killed when a bomb exploded under his car in the Moscow outskirts.
- Eight months earlier: Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of General Staff operations, killed in a car-bomb attack outside Moscow.
- 2024: Russia’s officer in charge of nuclear and chemical defense forces killed when an electric scooter exploded near his apartment in Moscow.
These attacks suggest a continuing pattern of targeted strikes against Russia’s top military leadership, heightening tensions in the region.
