Moscow [Russia], February 6 (ANI): A senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, was shot and hospitalised in Moscow in an apparent assassination attempt on Friday, reported Al Jazeera.

Alekseyev, deputy chief of Russian military intelligence (GRU), has been involved in Russia's military campaigns in Ukraine and Syria. He's also been sanctioned by the US and EU for his role in malicious cyber activities and the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England.

He is widely believed to have overseen the 2018 Novichok attack on Sergei Skripal in the UK and was a key negotiator during Yevgeny Prigozhin's 2023 mutiny, famously appearing in a video talking down the Wagner chief in Rostov-on-Don.

He was sanctioned by the US for his alleged role in orchestrating the hacking of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election.

According to reports from the Russian daily Kommersant, Alekseyev attempted to fight back after being shot in the arm and foot. During the struggle, he was shot again in the chest before the gunman fled.

The attacker, who posed as a delivery person, fired several shots at Alekseyev in a residential building, wounding him in the arm, leg, and chest, said Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee (ICR).

Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukraine of being behind the attack, claiming it was designed to sabotage peace talks, reported Al Jazeera.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quick to blame the 'Zelenskyy regime,' claiming the shooting was a 'terrorist act' intended to sabotage the peace negotiations currently occurring in Abu Dhabi.

There has been no comment from Ukraine on the shooting.

The Kremlin said it hoped Alekseyev, who was born in Ukraine when it was still part of the Soviet Union, would survive and recover. President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on the shooting, and Russia's intelligence services are investigating, it said.

'It is clear that military commanders and high-level specialists are at risk during wartime,' said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

'But it is not the Kremlin that should be deciding how to ensure their safety. This is a matter for the special services.'

According to Al Jazeera, this incident is part of a surge in assassinations of Russian high-ranking military officials since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Ukraine claiming responsibility for some of the attacks.

Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility for several assassinations of senior Russian officers since the war began in 2022. Some of these officers were on a public list of Ukraine's enemies.

Recent killings include Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the General Staff's army training directorate, who was killed by a car bomb on December 22, and Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's radiological, chemical and biological defence forces, who was killed in a scooter explosion in Moscow.

These attacks are part of a series of assassinations targeting high-ranking Russian military officials, with Russia blaming Ukraine for the attacks. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of these incidents, reported Al Jazeera. (ANI)