The FSB arrested a third suspect in connection with the assassination attempt on the GRU general
Russia's security service (FSB) announced on Tuesday that it had arrested a third suspect in connection with last week's assassination attempt on top Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer Vladimir Alexeiev, which Moscow authorities attribute to Ukraine, the Moscow Times reports.
The GRU general, the first deputy head of Russia's military intelligence service, was hospitalized after being shot multiple times in the back in a Moscow apartment building early Friday morning. He is conscious but remains in critical condition, Russian media reported.
The FSB has identified a third suspect in connection with the attack. It is about Pavel Vasin, the 44-year-old son of Viktor Vasin, arrested in Moscow shortly after the assassination attempt.
The main suspect, the shooter, identified by the FSB as Russian citizen of Ukrainian origin Liubomir Korba, was arrested on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to Russia.
A fourth person suspected of involvement in the plot was identified as Zinaida Serebritskaya, who allegedly managed to flee to Ukraine. Russian police have issued an arrest warrant in her name.
Pavel Vasin is accused of providing the main suspects with “vehicles that were used for physical surveillance and for the recovery of weapons from a hiding place”.
In a video recording of the FSB interrogation, he says Korba was recruited by the Ukrainian security service last September.
“I completed Korba's equipment duties and took him where he directed,” it is shown in the videotaped confession of the suspect.
The FSB said the younger Vasin was tracking two other senior Russian military officers for possible assassination attempts. Meanwhile, his father was indicted for renting an apartment to Korba and providing him with public transport cards.
Earlier this week, the FSB claimed that Pavel Vasin held Polish citizenship, and he was “involved in recruitment [tatălui] with the assistance of the Polish intelligence services”.
Poland dismissed the accusation as “typical disinformation” from Russia
The assassination attempt on Alexeev is just the latest in a series of attacks on high-ranking military officials on Russian soil. Since December 2024, three generals have been killed in or near Moscow, with the most recent attack late last year.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibiha rejected accusations that Kiev was involved and argued that the incident was more related to “internal fighting in Russia”.
Alexeev, born in the Vinnytsia region of Soviet Ukraine, was appointed to head Ukraine's intelligence operations after President Vladimir Putin shut down the security service in the early months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) claims that 65-year-old Liubomir Korba “admitted” to having been trained by Ukrainian authorities and promised around 25,300 euros to carry out the assassination.
The FSB released a video in which Korba reported being recruited in August 2025 by an officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the Ternopil region with the support of Polish intelligence services, a claim that was not supported by independent evidence.
Viktor Vasin, 66 years old, was arrested in Moscow. According to the FSB, he would have given Korba shelter and access to the building where the attack took place.
However, investigations by independent media indicate that Vasin may have previously worked for a company that even collaborated with the FSB, which raises questions about the official version of the Russian authorities and the theory of a Ukrainian operation.
