General Vladimir Alekseyev, a deputy chief of the Russian military intelligence, has been shot several times.
Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said on Friday that Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was shot several times by an unidentified assailant in Moscow on Friday, according to a report by the Associated Press.
She confirmed that Alekseyev was hospitalised following the attack, but did not indicate who could be responsible. Alekseyev has served as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence since 2011.
Alekseyev is a deputy director of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, and is widely regarded as a central figure overseeing the country’s private military companies.
He was also among the senior officials sent to negotiate with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the group’s brief mutiny in the summer of 2023.
Vladimir Alekseyev in critical condition after shooting
The General is under U.S. sanctions for his alleged role in efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though suspicion in Moscow is likely to fall on Kyiv.
Since the start of the war, Ukrainian intelligence agencies have targeted numerous Russian military officers and Moscow-installed officials, accusing them of involvement in war crimes.
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Little is publicly known about the covert networks believed to be behind assassinations and attacks on military infrastructure inside Russia and in Russian-controlled territories.
The shooting has drawn attention as it occurred a day after Russian and Ukrainian delegations — including Alekseyev’s direct superior at the GRU, Igor Kostyukov — met in Abu Dhabi, where both sides reported tentative progress in peace negotiations.
Some figures in Moscow were quick to blame Ukraine, suggesting Kyiv was attempting to undermine the talks.
Russian lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlev said, “An attempt on Alekseyev’s life is the best way to derail these talks, and the only person who stands to benefit in this situation is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”
He called for those responsible to be eliminated and described Alekseyev as “one of the most authoritative and respected generals in the Russian army.”
Car bomb kills Russian General Fanil Sarvarov
The attack comes just over a month after a series of targeted killings linked to Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
A senior Russian military official on December 22, 2025, died following a car bomb explosion in southern Moscow. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had launched a criminal probe into the killing of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, who headed the operational training directorate within the General Staff.
According to investigators, an explosive device detonated beneath Sarvarov’s vehicle in the south of the capital. He was rushed to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
Russian media reported the blast occurred at around 7:00 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT) in a parking area along Yasenevaya Street.
Images from the scene showed a heavily damaged white car, while emergency responders, investigators, and forensic teams were deployed to examine the site.
“An explosive device was activated on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the general staff’s operational training directorate, has died of injuries from the explosion,” Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.
Ukrainian involvement under scrutiny
Petrenko confirmed that a criminal investigation had been opened under provisions covering murder carried out in a socially dangerous manner, as well as illegal explosives trafficking. Authorities said multiple possible motives are being examined, including potential foreign involvement.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several high-profile Russian military and pro-war figures have been targeted in attacks both inside Russia and in occupied territories.
Kyiv previously acknowledged responsibility for a December 2024 bombing that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defence forces, after an explosive device concealed on an electric scooter detonated outside his residence.
In November 2024, Ukrainian sources said a car bomb killed Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky, whom Kyiv accused of directing missile strikes against civilian locations.
Other incidents include the July 2023 shooting of Russian submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky in Krasnodar, the April 2023 cafe bombing in Saint Petersburg that killed military blogger Maxim Fomin, also known as Vladlen Tatarsky, and the August 2022 car bomb attack that killed Daria Dugina, daughter of nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
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