Moscow/Kyiv, Feb 6 (.) In a suspected assassination attempt, Russian Defence Ministry Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev was shot in an apartment building in Moscow, leaving him hospitalised. Condemning the attack as a Ukraine backed conspiracy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called it a deliberate sabotage attempt by Kyiv to derail the ongoing settlement negotiations by resorting to terror tactics.
The first deputy chief of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), Alekseev was shot several times in the back outside his residence in the western part of the capital, with the assailant quickly fleeing the scene.
Alekseev, 64, is one of Russia’s most senior military intelligence officials, having served as first deputy head of the GRU since 2011 – a role in which he oversaw anti-terrorist operations in Syria. In 2017, he was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation, one of the country’s highest distinctions.
While Russian authorities have not formally named anyone as yet, there are widespread suspicions that the attack could have been planned by Ukrainian intelligence, with Moscow linking Kyiv to numerous past plots targeting Russian officials and military commanders. Kyiv had previously labelled Alekseev an “international criminal.”
Lavrov, slamming Kyiv for the “terrorist act”, stated that the attack “once again confirmed the focus of the Zelensky regime on constant provocations aimed, in turn, at disrupting the negotiation process.
He added that the regime in Kyiv appears determined to “do anything” in its power to convince their Western sponsors to derail any attempts to achieve a fair settlement of the war, now entering its fourth year.
The suspected assassination attempt comes shortly after officials from Russia, the US, and Ukraine held a second round of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff describing the consultations as “productive.”
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