Russia says the man suspected of shooting and killing a top general has been flown from Dubai to Moscow

By Guy Falconbridge and Gleb Stolyarov

MOSCOW, Feb 8 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian-born Russian citizen suspected of seriously injuring one of Russia’s most senior military intelligence officers has been extradited from Dubai to Moscow, Russian security officials and investigators said on Sunday.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, deputy head of Russia’s giant GRU military intelligence service, was shot three times with a silencer-equipped Makarov pistol in an apartment block on the Volokolamsk highway in northern Moscow on Friday.

Alekseev, 64, was taken to hospital and underwent surgery. His wife told a Russian war blogger on Sunday that Alekseev had regained consciousness and was able to talk.

The Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said in a statement that a Russian national named Lyubomir Korba was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the shooting in Dubai.

Russian investigators said Korba, who was born in the Ternopil region of Soviet Ukraine in 1960, was assigned to carry out the shooting by Ukrainian intelligence. Although Russia has said that Ukraine is involved in the shooting, Kiev has denied its involvement.

Russian media showed masked FSB officers blindfolded escorting the man from a small Russian jet in the dark.

The FSB said it had also identified two accomplices and a Russian national. One, Viktor Vasin, was detained in Moscow, while the other, Zinaida Serebritskaya, fled to Ukraine, Russian investigators said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the suspect’s description. President Vladimir Putin thanked the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for his help in arresting the suspect, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

The UAE has not released details of how Korba was detained.

Shadow War

The shooting of a senior Russian intelligence officer 12 kilometers (7 miles) north of the Kremlin underscores the weakness of top Russian generals involved in the execution of the war in Ukraine.

Some in Russia have questioned how Alekseev could be tracked to such a location and why he was not properly protected.

The head of the GRU, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, is leading Russia’s delegation to talks in Abu Dhabi on the security-related aspects of a potential peace deal with Ukraine.

Behind the front lines of Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, the military intelligence agencies of Russia and Ukraine have waged a shadowy “hybrid” war involving cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, strikes on strategic infrastructure, and assassinations.

Since December 2024, three other officers of the same rank as Alekseev have been killed in or near Moscow.

Since the war began in 2022, Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility for the assassination of several senior Russian officials, some of whom have appeared on public lists of enemies of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha told Reuters on Friday that Ukraine had nothing to do with Alekseev’s shooting.

“We don’t know what happened to that particular general — maybe it was their own internal Russian battle,” he said.

‘serious shock’

The GRU, like the FSB, is a vast and powerful Russian intelligence agency that includes sleeper agents abroad, special forces units and advanced cyber capabilities.

Jailed Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who has repeatedly lambasted Russian generals for their shambolic prosecution of the war, praised Alekseev’s energy and courage but said the attack was a significant setback.

“This is a serious blow to our special services,” Girkin, himself a former FSB officer, said in a telegram.

Alekseev came to national prominence in June 2023 when he was shown trying to pacify Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, during a failed coup.

In one video, Alekseev heard Prigozhin say that he had come to pick up then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov.

“Then take them,” said Alekseev, laughing.

A rebellion broke out and Prigogine died in a plane crash two months later.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Falconbridge and Aidan Lewis)