Moscow Says Ukraine’s SBU Behind Attempted Killing of Top GRU Official

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday that two men accused of trying to kill a senior Russian military intelligence official have confessed, claiming the attack was ordered by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU).

The suspects – Lyubomir Korba and Viktor Vasin – allegedly targeted Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy head of Russia’s GRU, in Moscow last week.

The FSB said Korba was recruited in August 2025, trained in Kyiv, and sent to Russia via Moldova and Georgia, with the Ukrainian security service promising him $30,000 for the attack.

The agency also claimed that Polish intelligence services were involved in recruiting Korba, using his son, a Polish citizen living in Katowice. No evidence was provided.

Russian security officials said Korba carried out surveillance of senior military officers in Moscow and received orders in December to assassinate Alekseyev.

He allegedly retrieved a pistol with a suppressor and an electronic key to the general’s apartment building from a weapons cache near Moscow.

The FSB said the key was provided by a woman who lived in the same building as Alekseyev and later left Russia for Ukraine.

The second suspect, Viktor Vasin, allegedly rented an apartment for Korba and helped him move around Moscow. The FSB described Vasin as a supporter of Russian opposition groups and protest movements.

Korba was arrested over the weekend in Dubai and “handed over to Russia,” the FSB said. He is in his 60s. Vasin, the alleged accomplice, was detained in Moscow, while another suspect reportedly escaped to Ukraine.

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The attack occurred on the morning of Feb. 6, when Alekseyev was shot several times in the stairwell of his apartment building on Volokolamskoye Highway. He was hospitalized in critical condition but regained consciousness after surgery, Russian media reported.

Alekseyev, first deputy chief of the GRU since 2011, was born in Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region and rose through Russia’s military intelligence ranks.

He has overseen operations in Syria, helped create Russia’s so-called Volunteer Corps, and played a role in negotiations during the 2023 Wagner mutiny.

He was awarded the title “Hero of Russia” in 2017. Western governments have sanctioned him for cyber operations, the Skripal poisoning, and his role in targeting Ukraine.