A top official of the Russian military intelligence was wounded in a shooting incident in Moscow on Friday, following a series of targeted killings of high-ranking military personnel that Russia has attributed to Ukraine. Lt.-Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was attacked by an unknown gunman at an apartment building in northwest Moscow, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds and subsequently hospitalized, according to Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko.
Petrenko did not disclose any potential suspects behind the assault on the 64-year-old, who has held the position of first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, since 2011. Alekseyev was awarded 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 when his Wagner Group seized control of the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don during a brief mutiny.
The shooting occurred a day after Russian, Ukrainian, and U.S. representatives concluded talks in Abu Dhabi with the goal of resolving the prolonged conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegation, led by military intelligence chief Adm. Igor Kostyukov, participated in the negotiations. Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the incident, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasizing the need for enhanced security measures to protect senior military officials during the Ukrainian conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labeled the shooting as a suspected “terrorist act” orchestrated by Ukraine to disrupt peace negotiations, while Ukrainian authorities have refrained from commenting on the attack. The assailant, reportedly disguised as a delivery person, shot General Alekseyev twice in the stairwell of his residential building, inflicting injuries to his foot and arm. Alekseyev attempted to disarm the gunman but was shot in the chest before the attacker fled the scene.
Born in Ukraine during the Soviet era, Alekseyev climbed the ranks to oversee Russian military intelligence operations in Syria, Ukraine, and other regions. He had been previously sanctioned by Western nations for his alleged involvement in various incidents, including interference in the 2016 U.S. election and the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018.
Since Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia have been linked to Kyiv by Moscow, with some incidents being claimed by Ukraine. Notably, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, was killed by a car bomb in December, while Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was assassinated in April by an explosive device planted in his parked car near his Moscow residence.
A Russian national with ties to Ukraine confessed to carrying out the attack on Moskalik, attributing it to payments received from Ukrainian security services. Following Moskalik’s death, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the elimination of senior Russian military figures by Ukrainian forces, noting that “justice inevitably comes.” In a separate incident, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, chief of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb concealed on an electric scooter outside his home in December 2024, with Ukraine’s security service claiming responsibility for the assassination.