Russian Army GRU General Alekseyev survived assassination attempt, two suspects detained
8 February 01:15
Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, successfully underwent surgery after an assassination attempt and is currently in an induced coma.
This was reported by Russian propaganda media, citing an informed source, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Also, according to the publication, two suspects were detained as part of the investigation and will be brought in for questioning in the near future. According to the media, the detention took place in Dubai.
The assassination attempt took place on February 6 in a residential building on Volokolamskoye Shosse in Moscow. Svetlana Petrenko, a representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, said that the killer fired several shots at the 64-year-old general and then fled. The victim was hospitalized, and the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov immediately claimed that Ukraine was behind the attack, saying that Ukraine had decided to disrupt the negotiation process in this way. In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga rejected Kyiv’s involvement in a comment to Reuters, stressing that Ukraine “has nothing to do with the attack.”
Vladimir Alekseyev has been first deputy chief of the GRU since 2011, is a Hero of Russia, and is known for commanding military intelligence operations in Syria. In June 2023, he and Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov were captured by Wagner PMC militants in Rostov-on-Don during Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny. A video was then released showing Prigozhin talking to the generals, stating his intention to secure the resignation of Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Alekseyev replied with a smile: “Take them away.”
Since 2016, the general has been under US sanctions for “malicious activities in cyberspace,” including interference in the US elections and cyberattacks. Since 2019, he has also been included in the European Union’s sanctions list as the person responsible for the storage, transportation, and use of the poisonous substance Novichok in Salisbury in 2018. The same sanctions list also includes GRU chief Igor Kostyukov, who heads the Russian delegation at the talks in Abu Dhabi.
