A senior Russian military intelligence official was shot several times in Moscow on Friday and taken to hospital, Russian authorities said.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy director of Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU, was attacked in the stairwell of his apartment building in north-west Moscow. The gunman fled the scene.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said an unknown person fired several shots at Alekseyev inside a residential building.
Investigators opened a criminal case on suspicion of attempted murder.
State media reported that Alekseyev suffered gunshot wounds to his arm, leg and chest. His condition was described as serious.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the shooting. “We hope that the general survives and recovers,” Peskov told reporters. He added that responsibility for protecting senior commanders lies with the security services.
Alekseyev, 64, is one of the most senior figures in the GRU. He played a central role in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and provided intelligence briefings to the Kremlin during the early stages of the war.
He also took part in talks with Ukrainian representatives during the siege of Mariupol in 2022. In June 2023, he was sent to negotiate with Yevgeny Prigozhin when the Wagner mercenary group advanced towards Moscow in a short-lived mutiny.
Alekseyev is under sanctions from the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. Western governments accuse him of overseeing GRU operations linked to the 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England, and of involvement in cyber operations aimed at influencing US elections.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the shooting. He provided no evidence to support the claim. Ukrainian officials have not commented.
The attack came a day after Russian and Ukrainian delegations held talks in Abu Dhabi. Alekseyev’s direct superior, GRU director Igor Kostyukov, leads Russia’s negotiating team. Some Russian politicians claimed the shooting aimed to disrupt the talks.
Russian lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlev said an attempt on Alekseyev’s life served the interests of Ukraine’s leadership. He called Alekseyev “one of the most respected generals in the Russian army” and urged retaliation.
Ukraine has previously acknowledged targeting Russian military figures it accuses of directing operations linked to civilian deaths. Over the past year, several senior Russian officers have been killed in or near Moscow, often in bomb attacks.
In December, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the army’s training department, died when an explosive device detonated under his car. In April 2025, senior officer Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow. Ukrainian intelligence later claimed responsibility for some similar attacks.
Investigators said they were reviewing surveillance footage and questioning witnesses.
The GRU remains one of Russia’s most secretive agencies, responsible for foreign intelligence, sabotage and covert operations.
HT