Current and former Western security officials have said there is reason to doubt Ukraine's involvement in Alekseev's murder.
According to the publication's interlocutors, such an incident during US-led negotiations to end the war could derail these negotiations and displease the administration of US President Donald Trump.
A former senior US intelligence official recalled that Ukrainian intelligence services had carried out similar attacks before, but now “it would be crazy for them” to do so.
The source also noted the participation in these negotiations of Kirill Budanov, the former head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and now the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Zelensky. According to him, if it turned out that Budanov's former department was involved in the attempted murder, it would raise the stakes for Kyiv.
Ukrainian intelligence also denies that it is involved in the attack on the Russian general.
The former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was “much more likely” that the attempt on Alekseev’s life was related to an “internal conflict” in the Russian Federation. He, in particular, noted the general’s role in suppressing the uprising of the private military company Wagner in 2023.
Context
The investigative committee of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation reported in the morning about the assassination attempt on 65-year-old Alekseev in a house in the north-west of Moscow. An unknown person shot several times at a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Defense and fled the scene, the general was taken to the hospital.
Mash propagandists report that there were at least three shots – two bullets hit the stomach, one hit the leg. Alekseev lost a lot of blood and is still in extremely serious condition.
There may be an attempt on Alekseev's life an attempt by a third party to derail peace negotiations about the end of the war in Ukraine, sources in the Presidential Office told the media. It was the GRU that coordinated the Russian negotiating group at meetings with the delegations of Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi (UAE).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine was allegedly interested in the assassination attempt.
According to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Alekseev, who was born in the Vinnitsa region of Ukraine, is a contender for the “road to The Hague” as an international criminal involved in massacres during the Russian military operations in Syria. In addition, he coordinated missile and air strikes on Ukrainian territory, including civilian targets, and the legalization of the Russian presence in the occupied territories by organizing so-called “referendums” (the creation of the “Kherson People’s Republic”).”
