Russia names suspects in shooting of senior military intelligence general

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - MOSCOW — Russian authorities said Sunday they have identified three suspects in the shooting of Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a senior official in Russia’s military intelligence service, accusing Ukrainian intelligence of orchestrating the attack — a claim Kyiv has denied.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the suspected gunman, identified as Russian citizen Lyubomir Korba, arrived in Moscow in late December “on assignment from Ukrainian intelligence services to commit a terrorist attack.”

Investigators said Korba fired three shots at Alexeyev on Friday inside a residential building in the northwestern outskirts of the capital before fleeing the scene.

Alexeyev, 64, the deputy head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), was hospitalized following the attack and later underwent surgery.

Russian media reported that he has since regained consciousness.

Investigators said Korba left Russia for the United Arab Emirates hours after the shooting but was later arrested and extradited.

Russian state television aired footage showing security agents escorting him off an aircraft at an undisclosed location.

A Makarov pistol equipped with a silencer and three rounds of ammunition was recovered at the scene, according to Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko, who said forensic examinations are underway.

Authorities also arrested a second suspect, Viktor Vasin, in Moscow on charges related to the attack. A third alleged accomplice, identified as Zinaida Serebritskaya, is believed to have fled to Ukraine, though investigators did not specify her role.

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Ukraine has denied any involvement. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha told Reuters on Friday that Kyiv had nothing to do with the shooting, describing it as an internal Russian matter.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack in an attempt to undermine negotiations aimed at ending the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Alexeyev’s superior, GRU chief Adm. Igor Kostyukov, has been leading Russia’s delegation at recent trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States held in Abu Dhabi.

The shooting marks the latest in a series of attacks targeting senior Russian military figures in or near Moscow since the war began. Ukraine has acknowledged responsibility for some past operations against Russian officials.

In January, an Uzbek national was sentenced over the 2024 killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection forces, who was killed by an explosive device outside a Moscow apartment building. Ukrainian intelligence sources said at the time Kyiv was behind the attack.

In December 2025, another senior GRU officer, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, was killed when a bomb detonated under his car in Moscow, according to Russian investigators.