The deputy director of Russian military intelligence is injured and the Kremlin accuses Ukraine

The lieutenant general Vladimir Alexeyev He was hospitalized after being shot several times by an unidentified assailant in an apartment building in northwest Moscow, Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement.

Petrenko did not speculate on who might be behind the attack on Alekseyev, 64, who has served as first deputy head of military intelligence, known as the GRU, since 2011.

He was awarded the Hero of Russia medal for his role in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria, and in June 2023 he was recorded speaking to mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin when his Wagner Group seized military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during their failed rebellion.

The attack occurred a day after Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators concluded two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to try to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. The Russian delegation was led by Alexeyev’s head of military intelligence, Admiral Igor Kostyukov.

President Vladimir Putin was informed of the attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that security agencies must strengthen the protection of senior military officials during the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the attack.

Asked about the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it would be up to security agencies to carry out the investigation, but described it as an apparent “terrorist act” of Ukraine aimed at derailing peace talks.

The business journal Kommersant He said the attacker, posing as a delivery driver, shot the general twice on the stairs of his building of apartments, and caused injuries to his foot and arm. Alekseyev tried to grab the gun and was shot again in the chest before the attacker fled, the report said.

Since Moscow sent troops to the neighboring country in 2022, Russian authorities have blamed kyiv for several murders of officials and public figures on Russian soil. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of these attacks.

In December, a car bomb killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

In April, another senior Russian military official, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational department of the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car, parked near the apartment building where he lived on the outskirts of Moscow.

A Russian man who previously lived in Ukraine pleaded guilty to carrying out the attack and said he had been paid by Ukraine’s security services.

Days after Moskalik’s death, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had received a report from the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency about the “liquidation” of senior Russian military commanders.

“Justice inevitably comes,” the president stated then, who did not directly mention Moskalik.

In December 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the army’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter outside his apartment building. His assistant also died in the attack. Ukraine’s security services claimed responsibility for the attack.