Russia bans third person for attack on GRU general

Russian authorities said they have detained a third person in connection with shooting a senior military intelligence general at a residential building in Moscow.

Federal Security Service announced in a statement on February 8th that the person a Russian citizen had been detained in Dubai and was flown to Moscow.

The agency, known as FSB, said it had identified two other Russian citizens involved in the shooting: one was detained in Moscow, while the other allegedly travelled to Ukraine.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev number two officials of the military intelligence agency widely known as GRU reportedly were shot three times on the steps of his residence building in Moscow on February 6th. Officials said he had managed to repel the attacker.

He then underwent urgent surgery for a gunshot wound on a vital organ. Officials said he is expected to recover.

The FSB also published a video from surveillance cameras, which he said showed the author of the shooting; previous reports said the person may have entered the building and attacked Alekseyev by pretending to be a food post.

Alekseyev is at least the fourth general to have been attacked or killed since the beginning of the full Russian occupation nearly four years ago.

The investigators have provided few details about the nature of the attack plan. Officials have blamed Ukraine for previous attacks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov directly blamed Kiev for shooting Alexeiev without offering evidence.

As a GRU deputy commander, Alexeyev has been monitoring or involved in some sabotage or assassination operations worldwide. Among other things, he has been charged with involvement in the almost fatal poisoning of Novichok of former hospital officer Sergei Scripal in Britain in 2018, as well as the cyber attack on American political parties two years ago.

He has also been linked to Yevgeny Pigozin, who cofounded Russia's most notorious mercenary company, the Wagner Group. Pgozyn died in a plane crash in August 2023, which Western intelligence officials later concluded was an assassination. / REL/Periscopi/