Ukraine denies involvement in attempted assassination of Russian general Alekseev
Ukraine was not involved in the assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, the first deputy head of Russian military intelligence (GRU), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a comment to Reuters published on Feb. 8.
“We don’t know what happened with that particular general — maybe it was their own internal Russian infighting,” Sybiha said.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed earlier on Feb. 8 that Alekseev's assassination attempt was ordered by Ukraine.
According to the FSB, a man suspected of shooting and wounding the Russian general in Moscow has been arrested in Dubai.
The detainee is identified as a Russian citizen, Lyubomir Korba, born in 1960 in Ukraine's Ternopil Oblast. According to the FSB, Korba was acting on the Ukrainian Security Service orders. He was extradited to Moscow from Dubai, and the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow reportedly ordered his arrest on Feb. 7, according to Russian sources.
Russian authorities also claim to have identified two accomplices, both of whom are said to be Russian citizens. One, Viktor Vasin, was allegedly detained in Moscow, while another, Zinaida Serebritskaya, is said to have fled to Ukraine.
These claims remain unverified, and no other sources, aside from the Russian FSB, have confirmed the details.
All three detainees are reportedly facing charges that could result in life imprisonment.
Bulgarian investigative journalist and head of investigations at The Insider, Christo Grozev, suggested on X that one of the suspects, Vasin, works for an FSB-linked company that manufactures surveillance tools.
"At least through August 2025, Viktor Vasin was employed as 'chief expert' at NTC Atlas, launched by FSB and now part of military-industrial behemoth Rostec," Grozev wrote.
According to him, Vasin also graduated from Russia's military command communications academy, which was listed on his CV in 2014.
Alekseev was shot multiple times in Moscow by an unknown assailant, the Kremlin said on Feb 6. The following day, on Feb. 7, Russian state media reported that Alekseev had regained consciousness after successfully undergoing surgery.
Alekseev — born in 1961 in Soviet Ukraine — is the first deputy head of Russian military intelligence (GRU), serving in the role since 2011.
He was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2016 for organizing "malicious cyber activities" during the U.S. presidential election of that year which saw Donald Trump win his first term in office.
The Kremlin reportedly awarded him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation the following year.
Alekseev has also been accused by the U.K. and EU of orchestrating the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury in 2018 that targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
