A Russian general was shot multiple times in Moscow in what authorities described as an attempted assassination on Feb. 6
Russian Defense Ministry Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was attacked in a residential building on Volokolamskoe Highway in the northwest of the Russian capital.
He was taken to the hospital following the incident, according to Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case investigating attempted murder and illegal trafficking in firearms, Petrenko added, saying that, according to investigators, an as-yet-unidentified individual shot a man several times and fled the scene.
Investigators and forensic experts from the Moscow Investigative Committee are working at the scene, reviewing CCTV footage, and interviewing eyewitnesses as part of their operation to identify the person or persons involved, she said.
The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office is now in control of the criminal investigation, TASS reported.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the shooting.
Alekseyev was born in Ukraine in 1961 and has served in Russian military intelligence for decades, according to Russian state media outlet Kommersant.
During the course of his career, he has operated in Syria, received numerous military honors, and been sanctioned by the United States for “malicious cyber activities.”
As yet, no group or country has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The shooting is the latest in a string of attacks on Russian military figures in Moscow in recent times.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a bomb placed underneath his car in Moscow on Dec. 22, 2025.
On that occasion, Petrenko said investigators were pursuing several theories in relation to the killing, saying that one is “that the crime was organized by the Ukrainian security agencies.”
Sarvarov, 56, was head of the Operational Training Directorate at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and served extensively in Moscow’s military during his career, being awarded the Order of Courage, the Suvorov Medal, and the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, first and second class.
Ukraine’s Spravdi strategic communications center, which operates under the auspices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, noted Sarvarov’s death in a post on X.
“Russian Generals continue exploding back home in Russia, with another today in Moscow,” it read.
“Major General Fanil Sarvarov died this morning at 7 a.m. when his car exploded. Responsible for many atrocities, Sarvarov participated in operations during the invasion of Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, and Ukraine. He will no longer be doing any of these things.”
In April 2025, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was also killed by a car bomb near his apartment building just outside Moscow.
On Dec. 17, 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building in an attack that also claimed the life of his assistant.
Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.
An Uzbek man was arrested and charged with killing Kirillov on behalf of the Ukrainian security service.
The latest attempted assassination comes a day after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff announced an agreement between Kyiv and Moscow to exchange 314 prisoners, the first such swap in five months, following U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi.
Both Moscow and Kyiv described the talks in the United Arab Emirates as positive.
Russian presidential representative and Russian Direct Investment Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev, who was present at the talks, said in comments reported by TASS that “there is progress” and that there is “good, positive movement forward.”
Kyiv’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, gave his assessment of the talks in a Feb. 4 post on Telegram, saying progress had been made.
“After the trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi, the negotiation process continued today in the format of working in groups,” he said.
He also said that the work was “substantive and productive, focused on concrete steps and practical solutions.”
