Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a campaign of assassinations has targeted its military elite in Moscow. On February 6, 2026, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev—first deputy head of Russian military intelligence (GRU), accused of masterminding the 2018 Salisbury nerve agent attack—was shot three times in his apartment building by an attacker posing as a delivery person. He underwent emergency surgery, regained consciousness on February 7, and stabilized under intensive care. Russia's FSB detained three suspects: Lyubomir Korba, a 65-year-old Russian citizen extradited from Dubai whom the FSB claims confessed to SBU recruitment; Viktor Vasin, detained in Moscow; and Zinaida Serebritskaya, who fled to Ukraine. Kyiv has officially denied involvement.
Alekseyev is the fourth senior general targeted since December 2024, following the killings of three others by bombs. The FSB released a confession video on February 8 in which Korba allegedly stated he was recruited by Ukraine's SBU in August 2025 in Ternopil and promised $30,000 in cryptocurrency for the assassination. The attacks expose deep security failures and coincide with fragile peace negotiations—trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on February 4-5 produced a prisoner exchange of 157 people but minimal progress on core issues. New rounds of US-brokered talks are scheduled for Geneva in mid-February, with Russia's chief negotiator Medinsky reportedly returning to discussions.
