Deputy head of Russian military intelligence regains consciousness in hospital after assassination attempt

The deputy head of Russia’s GRU foreign military intelligence agency Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, who was shot three times by an unknown assailant outside his apartment in Moscow on Friday morning, has regained consciousness in hospital, TASS reported on Saturday.

Having successfully undergone surgery, Alekseyev was brought out of an induced coma by medics and his injuries are no longer thought to be life threatening, according to TASS.

The security services have detained an unnamed man they suspect of being Alekseyev’s shooter, Russian business daily Kommersant reported. He was detained in Dubai alongside an apparent accomplice, according to Telegram breaking news channels Mash and Shot, both of which reported that the pair were being transported back to Moscow for questioning, where they are expected to be charged and officially placed under arrest on Sunday.

Though Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly blamed the Ukrainian intelligence services for the attempted assassination on Friday, calling it a “terrorist attack” that he said “confirmed the Zelensky regime's intention … to disrupt the negotiation process”, several Western officials have cast doubt on that version of events, suggesting that Kyiv would be unlikely to risk angering US President Donald Trump by carrying out such a high-level killing while US-brokered peace talks were ongoing.

Alekseyev, who was born in Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region, has served as first deputy head of Russia’s GRU foreign military intelligence since 2011. In 2017, he was made a Hero of Russia, the country’s highest honour, while in 2023, he was instrumental in persuading Wagner Group co-founder Yevgeny Prigozhin to end the mercenary unit’s armed uprising and march on Moscow.