Russian General Gunned Down in Moscow

A senior figure in Russia's military has been gunned down in his own stairwell. Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, a deputy head of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, was shot several times in his apartment building in northwest Moscow on Friday and was hospitalized in critical condition, according to state media. The shooter has not been identified or arrested, the Guardian reports. Alekseyev is one of the most prominent officers in Russia's intelligence apparatus, long involved in overseas covert operations and one of the main briefers for Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The 64-year-old has been widely linked to the Kremlin's oversight of private military companies and was among the officials sent to negotiate with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin during the short-lived mutiny in 2023. The US has sanctioned him for alleged interference in the 2020 election. The UK accuses Alekseyev of overseeing the 2018 novichok attack in Salisbury, England, which targeted double agent Sergei Skripal, the Telegraph reports.

No group has claimed responsibility, but attention in Moscow quickly swung to Ukraine, whose intelligence services have carried out attacks on Russian officers and occupation officials since the war began. Some Russian politicians accused Kyiv of trying to sabotage peace talks, pointing to the timing: the attack came a day after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Abu Dhabi and spoke of movement in negotiations. The AP reports that the Russian delegation was led by Adm. Igor Kostyukov, Russia's military intelligence chief.

Russian lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlev, offering no evidence, said President Volodymyr Zelensky was the only beneficiary and called for those behind the shooting to be "eliminated." Ukraine, which has not commented on the attack, has previously been linked to assassination attempts on at least three Russian generals in the Moscow area, usually with explosives rather than firearms. The Guardian reports that Russian military bloggers are questioning security arrangements, asking how a gunman was able to enter Alekseyev's apartment building undetected.