Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
A top Russian military intelligence official was hospitalised in Moscow on Friday after being shot several times in an attack that follows a series of assassinations of generals that the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine.
An unidentified assailant shot 64-year-old Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev several times in a residential building in north-west Moscow, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement. Authorities have launched a manhunt for the shooter and have opened a criminal case for attempted murder.
The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the assassination attempt and that he wished Alekseyev a speedy recovery.
The attack follows a series of killings targeting Russian senior military figures and prominent supporters of the war since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Last year, at least three generals were killed in Moscow, which Russian authorities linked to Kyiv.
Numerous other assassinations of senior Russian military officials have been linked to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the country’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR).
Unlike in those cases, Russian investigators have so far not referred to a possible Ukrainian connection. Those agencies did not respond to requests for comment regarding the attempt on Alekseyev’s life.
The shooting followed the end of two days of talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators about the war in Ukraine. Russia’s delegation was led by military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.
Since 2011, Ukrainian-born Alekseyev has served as first deputy head of the GRU, the main intelligence directorate of Russia’s general staff. He has played a significant role in Moscow’s military and intelligence operations over the past decade.
According to Ukraine’s GUR, Alekseyev is responsible for intelligence support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, including the preparation of missile strikes on its territory.
The GUR has said he was also involved in efforts to legitimise Russia’s presence in occupied territories, including through the organisation of so-called “referendums”.
Independent Russian media have described Alekseyev as one of the main supervisors of the notorious Wagner Group and other mercenaries operating in Ukraine.
During the 2023 mutiny led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alekseyev was among the main negotiators with him and recorded a video address urging fighters to “come to their senses”.
The general was awarded the Hero of Russia medal for his role in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria, where he led the intelligence effort, and was placed under US sanctions in 2016 for organising “malicious cyber activities” during that year’s presidential election.
Alekseyev is also under UK and EU sanctions for his role in the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
Last year, three generals in charge of military training, nuclear, chemical and biological defence forces, as well as the operations of Russia’s general staff, were killed in Moscow. Russia’s failure to prevent repeated attacks on senior military figures has prompted criticism even from pro-Kremlin commentators.
“Politicians have security, yet in the midst of active hostilities, our military leadership remains exposed . . . How many more generals have to be killed before this criminal negligence ends?” Anastasia Kashevarova, a propaganda journalist, wrote on her Telegram channel.
“It’s the fourth year and still the same. Our country has no worse enemy than our own procedures and rules,” war reporter Alexander Zhivov wrote on Telegram.
Additional reporting by Christopher Miller in Kyiv
Read the full article here
