A senior Russian military intelligence official, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, was shot in his Moscow apartment building on Friday and rushed to hospital, investigators said, in the latest in a series of assassination attempts, Reuters reports.
An unidentified gunman fired multiple shots at Alekseev, deputy head of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service, before fleeing the scene, Russian investigators said. Alekseev, given his position, was closely involved in the conduct of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Alekseev, 64, whose work was awarded the title "Hero of Russia" by President Vladimir Putin, is reportedly in serious condition in hospital.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the war in 2022, Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility for the assassination of several senior Russian officers, some of whom appeared on a public list of "enemies of Ukraine."
The daily Kommersant, citing law enforcement sources, stated that the attacker was waiting for Alekseev when he left his apartment to go to work and that Alekseev suffered gunshot wounds to his arm, leg, and chest during the fight.
The Kremlin said it hoped Alexeyev, who was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, would survive and recover. It said Putin had been informed of the shooting and that Russian intelligence services were investigating.
"It is clear that military commanders and top experts are at risk during the war," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters.
"But it is not up to the Kremlin to decide how to ensure their security. That is a matter for the special services."
Security issues
Some pro-Russian journalists, war bloggers, and citizens have asked why such important figures are not better protected.
"How is this possible? Or do we only see in movies that such people should have bodyguards? This is not the first time this has happened," a woman named Lyudmila wrote under a state media article about the shooting.
Alexeyeva's neighbor, who identified herself as Alesandra, said the building's surveillance cameras were working well, following unconfirmed reports that the attacker entered posing as a food delivery man.
Alekseyev's superior, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of the GRU, led the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on the security aspects of a possible peace agreement.
The latest round of talks ended on Thursday. The Kremlin said they were constructive and that negotiations would continue.
Some pro-Russian commentators have suggested, without evidence, that the assassination attempt on Alexeyev was a Ukrainian move to sabotage the negotiations and have questioned why such talks should continue at all.
Since December 2024, three other officials of the same rank as Alekseyev have been killed in or around Moscow. The head of the General Staff's Army Training Directorate was killed by a car bomb on December 22 last year, Reuters reports.
Alekseev was in charge of relations between the Ministry of Defense and the Wagner mercenary group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, which participated in some of the fiercest fighting in the early stages of the war in Ukraine.
Prigozhin was a harsh critic of the military leadership and staged a mutiny in June 2023, when Alekseev was among the officials sent to negotiate with him. The mutiny was quickly crushed, and Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash two months later.
Peskov: Putin informed
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the assassination attempt on Alekseev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Reuters reports.
"Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev was hospitalized after being shot multiple times. Russian security services are working on the case," Peskov said.
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