The Russian Security Service (FSB) has arrested the man who attempted to kill the number two of the military secret service, Vladimir Alekseyev, in Moscow on Friday. This was announced by the FSB itself cited by Tass.
The man, Korba Lyubomir born in 1960 in Russia, was stopped in Dubai and extradited this morning by the Emirati authorities. According to the FSB, there were two accomplices: Vasin Viktor, arrested in Moscow, and Serebritskaya Zinaida, who fled to Ukraine. “The hunt for the instigators continues,” specifies the Russian service.
The FSB releases the video of the general’s attacker
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has published a video of the extradition of the suspected perpetrator of the attempted murder of the number two of military intelligence, Vladimir Alekseyev.
In the video, security service officers wait on the tarmac for the plane carrying the detainee to Moscow from Dubai. The man’s face is not shown. He is taken off the plane and taken away in handcuffs. The FSB also published a video from the surveillance cameras of the entrance and interior of the general’s apartment building where the attack took place.
In particular, the video shows the discovery of the murder weapon: a pistol with a silencer hidden in the snow.
General Vladimir Alekseyev “is conscious and out of danger”
The number two of the Russian military intelligence (GRU) who escaped an ambush on Friday on the landing of his house, in the heart of Moscow, has recovered from the medically induced coma in which he was placed after the surgery that saved his life. “The surgery was successful, Alexeyev was placed in a medically induced coma and has now regained consciousness. It can be said with caution that the threat to his life is over”, reads the bulletin released by the doctors. On the investigation front, one of the two suspects is said to have fired three shots at the general, hitting him in the back because the soldier, with a past in the special forces, reacted “promptly”, throwing himself to the ground, protecting his head and vital organs. According to other sources, the soldier even managed to dodge some bullets, while another fired by the attacker as he fled hit him in the abdomen or chest. Kommersant, which cites sources close to the investigation, reveals that the two suspects were immortalized by surveillance cameras and will soon be questioned. If charged, they will end up in court on Sunday.
Meanwhile, light is being shed on some details of the ambush, which took place around seven in the morning: the attacker went into action when the general left the house to go to work, shooting him on the landing. Surveillance camera footage was scanned by investigators, who recorded several people entering the building shortly before the attack and leaving shortly after. There is speculation that the attacker may have impersonated a courier, because the building is guarded by a private security company that only allows them to enter freely.
Mystery about motive and instigator
While awaiting the developments of the investigation, the mystery remains about the motive and the possible instigator. Kiev, which Moscow blamed for the attack with the aim of ruining the peace negotiations, denies any responsibility. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the Ukrainian leadership “does not know what happened, perhaps it was Russian infighting.” A thesis also immediately relaunched by some observers, certain that General Alexeyev, despite the “Russian Hero” medal on his chest, would have fallen into disgrace in the Kremlin.