Moscow accuses a European country of an assassination attempt on Vladimir Alekseiev, the GRU general shot dead this month
Moscow has accused Britain of involvement in an assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseiev, a senior officer of the General Directorate of the General Staff (GRU). Vladimir Alekseiev was shot on February 6, in the building where he lived. He survived the attack and was hospitalized.
Vladimir Alekseiev was shot on February 6. PHOTO: archive
The head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, resumed accusations that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was behind the attack and claimed in an interview with the Russian publication Vesti that Britain was also involved in the operation. Bortnikov, however, did not present evidence to support these claims.
“We clearly understand that the Ukrainian intelligence services are the brains of the operation,” he said according to the Daily Star, adding that the FSB believes a suspect may have managed to flee and is hiding in Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities have categorically rejected the allegations, saying they had nothing to do with the attack.
“Behind them are third countries, which we previously discussed, that Ukrainian intelligence services operate under the supervision or control of Western intelligence services. We see here, first of all, a British connection,” Bortnikov said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Previously, he accused London of supporting Kiev in “Operation Spiderweb” from June 2025, which would have affected Russia's strategic air fleet, without providing evidence.
Details of the attack
According to Russian media, Alekseiev was shot several times in an apartment building on the morning of February 6. He was hospitalized in critical condition but regained consciousness after surgery.
Three days after the attack, the FSB announced that two suspects – Liubomir Korba and Viktor Vasin – allegedly confessed that the attack was ordered by the SBU. The Russian service claimed that Korba was recruited in August 2025, trained in Kiev and sent to Russia via Moldova and Georgia, in exchange for the sum of 30,000 dollars. Liubomir Korba was located and detained in Dubai two days after the attack, after which he was extradited to Russia.
The FSB also stated that Polish intelligence services would have been involved in the recruitment, through the suspect's son, a Polish citizen from Katowice. In this case too, no public evidence was presented.
Vladimir Alekseiev has been the first deputy head of the GRU since 2011. Born in Holodki, in the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine, he graduated from the Higher Air Command School in Ryazan and rose through the ranks of Russian military intelligence. He is currently the deputy head of the GRU, Admiral Igor Kostiukov.
