Senior GRU deputy shot in Moscow in apparent assassination attempt

A senior deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence was shot several times in a residential building in northwest Moscow on Feb. 6 and hospitalized, prompting a criminal investigation and heightened concern about security for the country’s military leadership.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, 64, was wounded in a building on Volokolamsk Highway, the Investigative Committee said, and “the victim was hospitalised in one of the city hospitals,” spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told Interfax as cited by Al Jazeera. Investigators opened a criminal case that, according to Petrenko, includes counts of attempted murder and illegal trafficking in firearms. Surveillance footage is being reviewed, witnesses are being questioned and forensic teams have worked at the scene.

Details of the attack remain uneven. Reuters, citing the Kommersant newspaper and law enforcement sources, reported an assailant waited as Alekseyev left his apartment to go to work; a struggle allegedly left him with wounds to an arm, a leg and his chest. The attacker fled, investigators said. Reuters also reported Alekseyev was in serious condition in hospital, while other outlets and the Investigative Committee did not specify his condition.

The shooting adds to a string of attacks on Russian military figures since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has often pointed fingers at Kyiv in previous cases, but attribution in this episode is unconfirmed. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, told Reuters that Kyiv denied involvement and said, “We don't know what happened with that particular general - maybe it was their own internal Russian in-fighting.” The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed and that intelligence services were investigating; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters, “It is clear that military commanders and high-level specialists are at risk during wartime.”

Alekseyev is a longstanding GRU figure who Reuters and other outlets say has served as a first deputy head of military intelligence since 2011 and was awarded the Hero of Russia. He was one of the officials sent to negotiate with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the June 2023 mutiny, and Reuters notes he is subject to Western sanctions.

The incident came a day after trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between the United States, Ukraine and Russia, where delegations agreed to reestablish high-level military-to-military dialogue. The timing could complicate a fragile diplomatic opening and add political risk to an already volatile security environment.

Market and policy implications are immediate and layered. Even without a confirmed perpetrator, attacks on senior officers raise the risk premium for Russian assets and can pressure the ruble and sovereign debt by increasing perceived political instability. For defense procurement and military operations, the pattern of targeted violence risks disrupting command continuity and could drive higher security costs for senior officials and state contractors. Western sanctions tied to figures like Alekseyev also complicate any international channels for accountability or negotiation.

Investigators face several open questions: confirmation of Alekseyev’s current medical status from hospital authorities, identification of the assailant and weapon, and whether the attack connects to prior incidents such as the Dec. 22 car bomb that killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov. For now, Moscow’s security services have signaled intensified scrutiny while political leaders weigh the domestic and international fallout of another high-profile assault on the military elite.