Top Russian Spy Chief Critically Wounded in Moscow Attack

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, the first deputy head of Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff (commonly known as the GRU) and widely regarded as the agency’s second-most senior figure after its director, was shot multiple times in an apparent assassination attempt in Moscow on February 6, 2026.

The attack occurred in the stairwell or elevator area of his residential building on Volokolamskoye Highway in the north-western part of the city, where an unidentified assailant fired several shots before fleeing the scene.

General Vladimir Alexeyev, aged 64 is a Hero of the Russian Federation with a history tied to high-profile operations including EU-sanctioned links to the 2018 Salisbury Novichok poisoning, was rushed to hospital and remains in critical condition with reportedly life-threatening injuries to vital organs.

Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation, with officials quickly pointing blame toward Ukraine amid ongoing war-related tensions and negotiations, marking this as the latest in a series of attacks on senior Russian military figures since the 2022 invasion began.