A Russian man suspected of shooting and wounding the senior Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alekseyev in Moscow has been arrested in Dubai, the Russian FSB security service has said.
The man, in his 60s, was “arrested and handed over to Russia” after fleeing to the United Arab Emirates, while a suspected accomplice was arrested in Moscow and another escaped to Ukraine, Russian media quoted the FSB as saying.
Several high-ranking military officials have been assassinated in Russia and in Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Alekseyev, the deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, was shot in a Moscow apartment on Friday and admitted to hospital.
He is under western sanctions for his alleged role in cyberattacks and the organisation of a nerve agent attack on the Russian defector Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has accused Ukraine of masterminding the shooting.
Kyiv, which has claimed responsibility for the killing of several high-ranking Russian military officials since the start of the war, has not commented in this case.