Russian investigators have accused Ukrainian intelligence services of orchestrating an assassination attempt on a senior Russian general in Moscow, claiming the suspected gunman was arrested in Dubai after fleeing the country.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the alleged attacker was detained after escaping Moscow and travelling to the United Arab Emirates. Authorities also reported that one additional suspect, described as an accomplice, had been detained, while another alleged accomplice managed to flee to Ukraine.
According to the Investigative Committee, the primary suspect is a man in his mid-60s who was born in Ukraine’s Ternopil region. Officials said he entered Russia in December “on the instructions of the Kyiv special services”.
The shooting took place early on Friday morning, when an assailant opened fire on Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev inside a residential building on Volokolamskoye Highway in Moscow before escaping.
Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday that Alekseyev had regained consciousness following surgery. “Doctors cautiously say that his life is not in danger,” the outlet said, citing medical sources.
Investigators said a Makarov pistol fitted with a silencer was recovered at the scene of the attack.
Russia’s security service, the FSB, said on Sunday that the suspect boarded a flight from Moscow to Dubai immediately after the shooting. He was detained there and subsequently returned to Russia.
The Kremlin confirmed on Sunday that President Vladimir Putin had spoken with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, thanking him for assistance in apprehending the suspect.
Ukraine has denied any involvement. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters on Friday that Kyiv had nothing to do with the attack.
Alekseyev, 64, serves as the first deputy head of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU.
Ukrainian intelligence services
In 2023, Alekseyev was dispatched by the Russian military to negotiate with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner private military group, during the group’s short-lived mutiny. At the time, Alekseyev described Prigozhin’s actions as a coup and as “a stab in the back of the country and the president.”
Alekseyev has previously been sanctioned by Western governments. In 2016, the United States imposed sanctions on him and other GRU officials over what it described as broad malicious cyber activities aimed at undermining US democratic processes.
The European Union also sanctioned Alekseyev in January 2019 following the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England. British authorities said the attack was carried out by GRU officers targeting a former Russian spy.
EU sanctions documents describe Alekseyev as “responsible for the possession, transport and use in Salisbury… of the toxic nerve agent ‘Novichok’ by officers from the GRU,” alongside sanctioned Russian military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.
The shooting of Alekseyev marks the latest in a series of attacks targeting senior figures within Russia’s military and security apparatus.
In December, another Russian general was killed in a car bombing in Moscow, an incident for which officials also blamed Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, who headed the armed forces’ operational training department, died after an explosive device planted beneath his vehicle detonated, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
TASS reported that the 56-year-old had previously “carried out the tasks of organizing and conducting an operation in Syria,” during Russia’s military support for the Assad regime.
Other high-ranking Russian officers killed in Moscow include Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the General Staff’s main operational department, who was killed in a car bomb attack near the capital in April last year.
