MOSCOW — A senior Russian general was shot in a Moscow apartment building and rushed to a hospital this morning, officials said, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting a top military figure.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that “an unidentified individual fired several shots” at Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev before fleeing the scene. “The victim has been hospitalised,” the agency said, without providing details on his condition or the suspected assailant.
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“Investigative actions and operational search measures are being carried out to identify the person or persons involved in committing the aforementioned crime,” Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
The attack, carried out inside a residential building, underscores a spate of strikes and attempted hits on Russian security and military officials since the full-scale war in Ukraine began. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some of the incidents, though Russian authorities did not attribute blame for Thursday’s shooting and provided no suspected motive.
A career military officer, Alekseyev is described in an online biography as the first deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff. He previously helped lead intelligence operations during Russia’s intervention in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad. In 2023, Alekseyev was dispatched to negotiate with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during the mercenary group’s short-lived mutiny against top military brass.
Russian authorities have not released footage or additional details from the scene of Thursday’s shooting. It was not immediately clear whether the building had security cameras or guards, or how the gunman accessed the premises.
Last month, a Russian court sentenced an Uzbek man to life in prison in connection with the 2024 killing of the head of the army’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces. The general, Igor Kirillov, died when a scooter exploded as he left an apartment block in Moscow, an attack Ukrainian officials said they orchestrated. The claims could not be independently verified.
Assassinations and attempted assassinations of high-profile figures on Russian soil—often involving explosives or close-range shootings—have unsettled the country’s security establishment and exposed vulnerabilities far from the front lines. While Kremlin officials have repeatedly accused Ukraine of directing attacks inside Russia, Kyiv has selectively acknowledged operations targeting military and intelligence leaders it regards as instrumental to Moscow’s war effort.
The Investigative Committee urged the public to share any information that could help identify the suspect or suspects in Alekseyev’s shooting. No arrests had been announced by late Thursday, and officials did not say whether they were pursuing multiple lines of inquiry.
Further details about Alekseyev’s condition and the circumstances of the attack were not immediately available.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
