Overview
- Authorities say an assailant shot Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev several times at a residential building in northwest Moscow before fleeing.
- Russia’s Investigative Committee reports he was hospitalized and that investigative and operational search measures are under way.
- Officials identify Alekseyev as the first deputy chief of the General Staff and deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff at the Defence Ministry.
- He was among the officials dispatched to negotiate with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during the 2023 mutiny.
- The incident follows a series of attacks on senior Russian officers since 2022, including the Dec. 22, 2025 car-bomb killing of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, with Moscow blaming Kyiv in some cases and Ukrainian intelligence claiming responsibility in others.