Top Russian General Hospitalised After Shooting in Moscow Amidst Attacks on Military Officials

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, a prominent Russian military officer, is currently receiving medical care after sustaining gunshot wounds in Moscow on Friday. This incident further heightens concerns over a pattern of violent attacks directed at senior figures within the Russian armed forces.

Alexeyev, who holds the position of deputy chief at Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, was reportedly shot an unknown number of times within a residential area in the northwestern part of the capital. Authorities have confirmed that the assailant fled the scene following the attack.

Sources indicate that Alexeyev’s direct superior, GRU chief Igor Kostyukov, has been involved in ongoing negotiations as part of Russia’s delegation.

Since the commencement of the conflict in Ukraine, several high-ranking Russian military officials have been assassinated. Russia has frequently attributed these attacks to Kyiv, with Ukrainian military intelligence on occasion publicly claiming responsibility.

Reports suggest that three other officials holding the same rank as Alexeyev, lieutenant general, have been fatally attacked in or around Moscow since December 2024.

The recent surge in attacks has drawn criticism from influential Russian war commentators, who have raised questions about the security provisions for such high-ranking personnel. In at least two documented instances, senior officers were targeted and killed outside their residences.

On December 22, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, who led the General Staff’s army training directorate, was killed by an explosive device planted beneath his vehicle.

Alexeyev was known for his role in managing the relationship between the Ministry of Defence and the Wagner mercenary group, a force that participated in some of the most intense fighting during the initial phases of the Ukraine war. The group was led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin had been an outspoken critic of Russia’s defence leadership and orchestrated a short-lived rebellion in June 2023. Alexeyev was among the senior officials tasked with negotiating with Prigozhin during that crisis. The mutiny eventually concluded, and Prigozhin later perished in an aviation incident two months after the event.