A senior Russian military general has been shot several times in an attack in Moscow.
Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev, 64, was rushed to hospital after the shooting at a residential apartment block on the north-western edge of the capital. He is believed to be in a serious condition, while the attacker escaped.
Alexeyev serves as the deputy head of the main directorate of Russia’s GRU military intelligence. He is the latest top-ranking officer to be targeted in or around Moscow since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but senior Russian officials quickly blamed Ukraine, accusing it of attempting to undermine ongoing negotiations aimed at ending the war.
“The victim has been taken to one of the city’s hospitals,” said Svetlana Petrenko of Russia’s Investigations Committee (SK), which said it opened a criminal case for attempted murder.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV recordings for leads and began questioning possible witnesses on Friday morning along Volokolamsk Highway.
A neighbour of Alexeyev told the Reuters news agency she had been woken by the sound of “several” shots and had then heard another neighbour screaming for help.
“This is all I heard. Other neighbours rushed out, too. They asked how they could help, should they call ambulance and police, but she had already called them.”
Alexeyev has been closely involved in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and took part in negotiations with Ukrainian officials during the siege of Mariupol in 2022.
He was previously awarded the title Hero of Russia for his role in Moscow’s military intervention in Syria’s civil war.
The European Union and the United Kingdom later imposed sanctions on him after the GRU was accused of involvement in the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury, UK.
He was also sent to hold talks with Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the brief but violent mutiny in June 2023.
His superior at the GRU, Igor Kostyukov, has been leading Russia’s delegation at peace talks with Ukrainian and US officials in Abu Dhabi. The latest round ended on Thursday without a major breakthrough.
Authorities have yet to identify those responsible for the shooting, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov swiftly blamed Ukraine.
He said “this terrorist act” was aimed at “disrupting the negotiation process”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the incident.
“We wish first of all that the general survives and recovers. We hope that will be the case,” Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine has not issued a statement on the incident, although it has previously acknowledged involvement in some attacks on Russian military figures. Russian intelligence said it had foiled a planned attack on a soldier in St Petersburg late last month.
In January, an Uzbek man was sentenced for the 2024 killing of another general, Igor Kirillov, in a blast outside a Moscow apartment block. Sources in Ukraine’s SBU intelligence had said at the time it was behind the attack.
Lt Gen Kirillov had led Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection troops.
In December 2025, another senior GRU officer, Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, was killed when an explosive device detonated beneath a car in Moscow. He was in charge of the armed forces’ operational training department, according to Russia’s SK.
(BBC)
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