Top Russian general gunned down in the streets of Moscow in new ‘assas | World | News
A top Russian military general has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow in what is being described as an assassination attempt. The senior Russian military official Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev serves as deputy head of the Defence Ministry’s Main Directorate of the General Staff. He was among the senior officials dispatched to hold talks with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the brief mutiny in June 2023.
An unknown assailant fired several shots at Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev in a residential building in the northwest of the city this morning before they fled, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage, and a search to find the perpetrator is under way. Ukraine has not been officially linked to the shooting and is yet to comment, though Kyiv has previously targeted Russian officials involved in Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Alexeyev was placed under US sanctions in 2016 for allegedly orchestrating what Washington described as “malicious cyber activities” linked to that year’s presidential election, which resulted in Donald Trump securing his first term.
The following year, he was reportedly awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation by the Kremlin.
In August 2022, Canada also imposed sanctions on him, citing his alleged involvement in Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, a number of senior Russian military officials have been assassinated. On December 22, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a bomb that exploded under his Kia Sorento in southern Moscow. Sarvarov was head of the Russian General Staff’s army operational training directorate, Sky News reports.
In April 2025, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, was killed by a car bomb near Moscow. Moskalik was deputy head of the main operations directorate of the general staff.
