Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that Ukraine’s Security Service had ordered an attempt to assassinate General Vladimir Alexeyev, according to Interfax.
The FSB also alleged that Polish intelligence played a role in recruiting the suspect, but offered no evidence to support the claims.
However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected any link to the shooting, telling Reuters, "We don't know what happened with that particular general - maybe it was their own internal Russian in-fighting."
Russian authorities say Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), was shot three times with a Makarov pistol fitted with a silencer.
The attack took place on Friday in an apartment block on the Volokolamsk highway in northern Moscow.
Alexeyev, 64, underwent surgery and has regained consciousness, his wife told a Russian blogger, saying he is "able to talk".
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian-born Russian citizen was extradited to Moscow from Dubai on Sunday on suspicion of gravely injuring one of Russia's most senior intelligence officers, according to Russian security officials and investigators.
Investigators described the suspect as a Russian citizen born in the Ternopil region of Soviet Ukraine and alleged that Ukrainian intelligence had tasked him with the shooting. Kyiv has denied any involvement.
Russian media broadcast a video of masked FSB officers escorting a blindfolded man from a small jet in darkness.
The FSB said two alleged accomplices were also identified: one was detained in Moscow while another fled to Ukraine, according to investigators.
President Vladimir Putin thanked UAE leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his assistance in the detention, according to Russia's foreign ministry.
The United Arab Emirates has not disclosed how the suspect was apprehended.
The attack occurred just 12 km north of the Kremlin and has sparked questions inside Russia over how a senior intelligence figure could be tracked and targeted.
Alexeyev is one of the most prominent officials involved in Russia's military operations in Ukraine.
GRU chief Admiral Igor Kostyukov is currently leading Russia’s delegation in security-related talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.
Since December 2024, three officials of Alexeyev’s rank have been killed in or near Moscow.
Behind the front lines, Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in what Russian officials call a "hybrid" shadow conflict involving cyber operations, disinformation, covert sabotage and targeted killings.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Putin had been briefed and that Russia’s intelligence services were investigating.
“It is clear that military commanders and high-level specialists are at risk during wartime,” he said.
The GRU’s influence spans covert overseas networks, special forces and advanced cyber units.
Jailed Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, a former FSB officer who has criticised Russia’s military leadership, praised Alexeyev’s "energy and courage" but called the attack a major setback.
"This is a serious blow to our special services," he said on Telegram on Sunday (8 February).
Alexeyev became widely known during Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed Wagner mutiny in June 2023, when he appeared attempting to calm the mercenary chief.
In a widely shared video, Prigozhin said he had come to seize the then-defence minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov.
Alexeyev responded, "Take them then," with a brief chuckle.
The mutiny collapsed and Prigozhin died two months later in a plane crash in August caused by hand grenades detonating inside the aircraft according to President Putin.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday (26 February) accused Ukraine of threatening Europe’s energy security by halting oil flows through the Druzhba oil pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, arrived in Geneva and may hold talks with U.S. officials, according to the RIA news agency.
The situation in Cuba was heating up and called for restraint following a deadly incident involving a Florida-registered speedboat off the coast of the Caribbean island, the Kremlin said on Thursday (26 February).
Switzerland will ban the import and purchase of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 25 April 2026 as part of its implementation of the European Union’s 19th sanctions package targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Follow the latest developments and global reaction after the U.S. and Israel launched “major combat operations” in Iran, prompting retaliation from Tehran.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, with Washington ordering a significant military build-up in the region and multiple countries evacuating diplomatic staff amid fears of further instability.
Two people were killed and around 40 injured when a tram derailed in central Milan on Friday (27 February), a spokesperson for the local fire service said.
Iran’s top diplomat said that the next round of nuclear talks is expected in less than a week after what he described as “progress in the most serious exchanges” between Tehran and Washington. The statement follows the third round of nuclear talks on Thursday (26 February) in Geneva.
Pakistani air strikes hit a weapons depot on the western outskirts of Kabul overnight, triggering hours of secondary explosions that rattled homes across the Afghan capital and left residents fearing further violence.
A senior Iranian official has warned Israel to “prepare for what is coming”, insisting that Tehran’s response to the latest escalation in the Middle East will be made openly and without limits.
Cuba has released extensive details of a deadly midweek shootout at sea, showing rifles, pistols and nearly 13,000 rounds of ammunition that it says were carried by a group of exiles who attempted to enter the island by speedboat.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said on Friday (27 February) they were ready to negotiate after Pakistan bombed their forces in several Afghan cities, including Kabul and Kandahar, and Islamabad declared the neighbours were now in "open war".
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, with Washington ordering a significant military build-up in the region and multiple countries evacuating diplomatic staff amid fears of further instability.
Two people were killed and around 40 injured when a tram derailed in central Milan on Friday (27 February), a spokesperson for the local fire service said.
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