Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor
A high-profile general in Russia's military has been shot several times and wounded in Moscow.Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev, 64, was taken to hospital after the attack in a residential block of flats in the north-western outskirts of the capital, and is believed to be in a serious condition. The attacker fled the scene.
Alexeyev is number two in the main directorate of Russia's GRU military intelligence and the latest high-ranking military figure to have been targeted in or near Moscow since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
No-one has so far claimed the attack, but senior Russian officials immediately blamed Ukraine, saying it was trying to derail negotiations to end the war.
"The victim has been taken to one of the city's hospitals," said Svetlana Petrenko of Russia's Investigations Committee (SK), which said it opened a criminal case for attempted murder.
Investigators are searching CCTV footage for clues and began interviewing potential witnesses of the attack on Friday morning on Volokolamsk Highway.
Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev is number two in the main directorate of Russia's GRU military intelligence
A neighbour of Alexeyev told the Reuters news agency she had been woken by the sound of "several" shots and had then heard another neighbour screaming for help.
"This is all I heard. Other neighbours rushed out, too. They asked how they could help, should they call ambulance and police, but she had already called them."
Alexeyev has played a significant role during the war in Ukraine, taking part in talks with Ukraine during the Russian siege of the city of Mariupol in 2022.
Earlier he was awarded the title Hero of Russia for the role he played in Moscow's military intervention in Syria's civil war.
He was placed under European Union and UK sanctions after the GRU was accused of being behind the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury in the UK.
He was also sent to negotiate with the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short and bloody mutiny in June 2023.
His boss at the GRU, Igor Kostyukov, has been in charge of Russia's negotiating team at peace talks with Ukrainian and US teams in Abu Dhabi. The latest round ended on Thursday without a major breakthrough.
It is not yet known who was behind the shooting - but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quick to accuse Ukraine.
He said "this terrorist act" was aimed at "disrupting the negotiation process".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was being briefed on the shooting. "We wish first of all that the general survives and recovers. We hope that will be the case," Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine has not commented but has claimed some attacks on Russian military figures in the past. Russian intelligence officials claimed they had thwarted an attempted attack on a Russian soldier in St Petersburg at the end of last month.
An Uzbek man was jailed in January for the 2024 killing of another general, Igor Kirillov, in an explosion outside a block of flats in Moscow. Sources in Ukraine's SBU intelligence said at the time it was behind the attack.
Lt Gen Kirillov had been in charge of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection troops.
In December 2025, another high-ranking officer in the GRU, Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, was killed when an explosive device detonated under a car in Moscow. He was in charge of the armed force's operational training department, according to Russia's SK.
"The victim has been taken to one of the city's hospitals," said Svetlana Petrenko of Russia's Investigations Committee (SK), which said it opened a criminal case for attempted murder.
Investigators are searching CCTV footage for clues and began interviewing potential witnesses of the attack on Friday morning on Volokolamsk Highway.
Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev is number two in the main directorate of Russia's GRU military intelligence
A neighbour of Alexeyev told the Reuters news agency she had been woken by the sound of "several" shots and had then heard another neighbour screaming for help.
"This is all I heard. Other neighbours rushed out, too. They asked how they could help, should they call ambulance and police, but she had already called them."
Alexeyev has played a significant role during the war in Ukraine, taking part in talks with Ukraine during the Russian siege of the city of Mariupol in 2022.
Earlier he was awarded the title Hero of Russia for the role he played in Moscow's military intervention in Syria's civil war.
He was placed under European Union and UK sanctions after the GRU was accused of being behind the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury in the UK.
He was also sent to negotiate with the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short and bloody mutiny in June 2023.
His boss at the GRU, Igor Kostyukov, has been in charge of Russia's negotiating team at peace talks with Ukrainian and US teams in Abu Dhabi. The latest round ended on Thursday without a major breakthrough.
It is not yet known who was behind the shooting - but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quick to accuse Ukraine.
He said "this terrorist act" was aimed at "disrupting the negotiation process".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was being briefed on the shooting. "We wish first of all that the general survives and recovers. We hope that will be the case," Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine has not commented but has claimed some attacks on Russian military figures in the past. Russian intelligence officials claimed they had thwarted an attempted attack on a Russian soldier in St Petersburg at the end of last month.
An Uzbek man was jailed in January for the 2024 killing of another general, Igor Kirillov, in an explosion outside a block of flats in Moscow. Sources in Ukraine's SBU intelligence said at the time it was behind the attack.
Lt Gen Kirillov had been in charge of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection troops.
In December 2025, another high-ranking officer in the GRU, Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, was killed when an explosive device detonated under a car in Moscow. He was in charge of the armed force's operational training department, according to Russia's SK.
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