Russia sends chilling WW3 threat to UK – ‘We never forget’ | World | News
Putin (Image: Getty)
Britain was today blamed over a Moscow assassination bid against one of Vladimir Putin’s most senior military spy chiefs.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, 64, the deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was shot in a residential building on 6 February.
He was seriously wounded and rushed to hospital but is expected to survive.
Today Russia’s counterintelligence chief Alexander Bortnikov claimed there was a “British trace” to the shooting which, he alleged, was carried out by Ukrainian special services.
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“We clearly understand that the organisers are the Ukrainian special services,” said Bortnikov, 74, veteran director of the Federal Security Service [FSB].
“And behind them stand third countries, which we have spoken about before — that the Ukrainian special services operate under the supervision, or with the supervision, of Western intelligence services.
“We see a British trace above all here. Therefore, the investigation is continuing.”
Bortnikov said the FSB will publish new information about the investigation if it becomes available.
He gave no evidence for his claim against Britain.
Bortnikov stressed that retaliatory measures against alleged terrorist attacks by Kiev are being taken, but this is a “delicate issue”.
“We are carefully monitoring everything that is happening. Of course, we will never forget and never forgive.”
Alekseyev is seen as linked to the 2018 Novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.
The EU alleged he “orchestrated” the GRU operation against the Skripals, and cited this as a reason for imposing sanctions.
Russia earlier claimed another Western link in the Alekseyev shooting – to Poland.
The Alekseyev shooting showed an embarrassing lapse in Russian security of senior generals linked to the war.
But there were claims the military spy chief had ditched his bodyguards to visit his younger lover when he was shot.
Russia earlier arrested two suspects Lyubomir Korba, 65, and Viktor Vasin, 66, alleging they were working for Ukraine’s SBU security service.
A third suspect, Zinaida Serebryakova, 54, who reportedly lived in the building where Alekseyev was shot, is said to have fled to Ukraine.
Both Korba and Vasin have “fully admitted their guilt”, according to the FSB.
