The man suspected of shooting senior Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alekseyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) intelligence agency said on Sunday.
The FSB named the Russian national in his 60s as Lyubomir Korba, who it said was arrested by police in the United Arab Emirates and then extradited to Russia.
TASS news agency reported on Sunday that a second man was arrested in Moscow, while a suspected female accomplice of the gunman has fled to Ukraine, citing the FSB.
Russian newspaper Kommersant cited a source close to the investigation on Saturday as saying that two suspects in the shooting ‘will soon be interrogated’ and charged.
The shooting
Alekseyev, deputy head of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence arm, was shot several times in an apartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said.
The 64-year-old, whose work has been recognised by President Vladimir Putin with a Hero of Russia award, was reported to be in a serious condition, requiring surgery.
Investigators said on Friday that an unidentified gunman had fired several shots at Alekseyev before fleeing the scene.
Authorities have opened a criminal case for attempted murder.
Alekseyev played a key role in intelligence operations in Ukraine and during Russia’s intervention in Syria on behalf of now-ousted leader Bashar Assad.
He was also sent to negotiate with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during his short-lived mutiny against the Russian military’s top brass in 2023.
Alekseyev is also subject to sanctions by the United States and the European Union over Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in England in 2018.
Ukraine denies responsibility
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. Kyiv insisted it wasn’t involved in the shooting.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility for assassinating several senior Russian officers.
Three other officials of the same rank as Alekseyev have been killed in or near Moscow over the past year.
The head of the General Staff’s army training directorate was killed by a bomb placed under his car on December 22.
The shooting happened a day after negotiators wrapped up two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old conflict in Ukraine.
Alekseyev’s boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, led Russia’s delegation in those negotiations.
DW
