A Russian man suspected of shooting and wounding 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.
Mr 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 Russian defector Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the shooting.
Mr Alexeyev’s boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, has been leading Russia’s delegation in negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security-related aspects of a potential peace deal.
The arrest comes as Russia’s defence ministry said that Russian forces had captured the settlements of Hlushkivka in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region and Sydorivka in Sumy region, Russian news agencies reported, citing the ministry.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
Ukraine imposes sanctions on foreign suppliers of components for Russian missiles
Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was imposing sanctions on some foreign manufacturers of components for Russian drones and missiles used against Ukraine.
“Producing this weaponry would be impossible without critical foreign components, which the Russians continue to obtain by circumventing sanctions,” Mr Zelensky said on X.
“We are introducing new sanctions precisely against such companies – component suppliers, as well as missile and drone manufacturers. I have signed the relevant decisions.”
According to two decrees published by the Ukrainian presidency, targets of the sanctions include several Chinese companies as well as companies from the former Soviet Union, the United Arab Emirates and Panama.
Despite negotiations to end the four-year war, Russia has sharply increased the scale and number of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine in recent months, focusing its attacks on the energy and logistics sectors.
Mr Zelensky said on X that in the past week, Russia had launched more than 2,000 attack drones, 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 116 missiles of various types at Ukraine’s cities and villages.
Strikes on power stations and substations have left entire regions without electricity and heating, with blackouts in the capital Kyiv lasting up to 20 hours.
Mr Zelensky said he had also imposed sanctions against the Russian financial sector and bodies that support Russian cryptomarket and mining operations.
date:2026-02-08 10:24:00