Russian general shot several times in Moscow 'assassination attempt'
A Russian general believed to be responsible for intelligence and hybrid operations against Ukraine is in hospital after being shot in an assassination attempt in Moscow.
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An unknown assailant fired several shots at Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev in a residential building in the northwest of the city this morning before they fled, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Alexeyev is deputy chief of the main directorate of general staff at the Russian Defence Ministry.
A search to find the assailant is under way.
Investigators are studying CCTV from the area on Volokolamskoye Boulevard in the northwest of Moscow.
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Svetlana Petrenko, the Investigative Committee spokesperson, said: “Investigative actions and operational search measures are being carried out to identify the person or persons involved in committing the aforementioned crime.”
Sources told Russia’s Kommersant newspaper that the attempted hit happened around 7am local time as Alekseyev left his apartment to go to work.
Local reports said that the General’s driver was waiting in his car but the assailant intercepted him on the stairs disguised as a food delivery man.
He was shot in the arm and leg and then hit a third time while trying to wrestle the gun from the attacker.
Alexeyev took part in talks with Ukraine during the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022.
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.
Alexeyev was put under European Union sanctions after the GRU was accused of being behind a 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury in the UK.