A senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, was rushed to hospital after being shot multiple times in Moscow on Friday, investigators said, marking the latest in a series of attacks targeting high-ranking military officials.
Alexeyev serves as deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. His superior, Igor Kostyukov, is currently leading Russia’s delegation in talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security aspects of a potential peace agreement.
According to the Moscow prosecutor’s office, Alexeyev was attacked at a residential building in northwest Moscow by an unidentified assailant who fled the scene. Alexeyev, who was born in Soviet Ukraine, sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to hospital for treatment.
Several senior Russian officers have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of orchestrating the attacks. In some instances, Ukrainian military intelligence has publicly claimed responsibility.
Since December 2024, three other lieutenant generals have been killed in or near Moscow, raising concerns over the security of top officials. The incidents have sparked anger among influential Russian war bloggers, who have questioned why senior commanders appear to lack adequate protection, particularly as at least two of the attacks occurred outside victims’ homes.
On December 22, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the General Staff’s army training directorate, was killed by a bomb planted under his car.
Alexeyev previously oversaw relations between Russia’s Defence Ministry and the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, which fought some of the fiercest battles in the early stages of the Ukraine conflict. Prigozhin, a vocal critic of Russia’s defence leadership, staged a brief mutiny in June 2023, during which Alexeyev was among the senior officials sent to negotiate with him. The uprising later collapsed, and Prigozhin died in a plane crash two months afterward.
