A senior figure in Russia’s military intelligence establishment has been seriously wounded in a shooting in Moscow, in the latest attack targeting high-ranking officials since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev was shot several times on Friday morning inside a residential building on Volokolamsk Highway, in the north-western outskirts of the Russian capital. He was rushed to hospital immediately after the incident. Authorities have not disclosed his current condition, and no suspects have been publicly identified.
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed that a criminal case has been opened on charges of attempted murder. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for the committee, said only that the victim had been hospitalised at one of Moscow’s medical facilities, offering no further details about the circumstances or possible motives behind the attack.
Alexeyev is a senior official within the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, commonly known as the GRU, Russia’s powerful military intelligence agency. He has long been considered one of its most influential figures and has played a prominent role in Russia’s military and intelligence operations over the past decade.
He was placed under European Union sanctions following accusations that the GRU was responsible for the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England, which targeted former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Moscow has consistently denied involvement in that incident, but Western governments have maintained sanctions against senior Russian intelligence officials linked to the agency.
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During the war in Ukraine, Alexeyev has remained active behind the scenes. In 2022, he took part in negotiations with Ukrainian representatives during the Russian siege of Mariupol, one of the most devastating battles of the conflict. He was also reportedly involved in talks with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late head of the Wagner mercenary group, during Wagner’s brief but violent mutiny against the Russian military leadership in June 2023.
The shooting adds to a growing list of violent incidents involving senior Russian military figures inside the country. While responsibility for Friday’s attack remains unclear, Ukraine has previously claimed involvement in some operations targeting Russian military and intelligence officials. Russian authorities, for their part, have accused Ukrainian intelligence services of orchestrating assassinations and sabotage campaigns on Russian soil.
In January, an Uzbek national was sentenced to prison for the 2024 killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who died in an explosion outside an apartment building in Moscow. Kirillov had been head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection troops. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency later said it was behind that attack.
Russian officials also reported last month that they had foiled an attempted attack on a Russian soldier in St Petersburg. In December 2025, another senior GRU officer, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed when an explosive device detonated beneath his car in Moscow. Sarvarov was reportedly in charge of operational training within the armed forces.
Taken together, the incidents highlight rising security concerns within Russia as the war in Ukraine drags on. Attacks on senior figures in the heart of Moscow underscore the increasingly blurred lines between the battlefield and the Russian capital, raising questions about internal security and the reach of those seeking to strike at the country’s military leadership.