MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday accused Ukraine of being behind an assassination attempt on a top Russian general in Moscow, something he said was designed to sabotage peace talks.
A senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, was rushed to hospital earlier on Friday after being shot in Moscow, investigators said, in the latest of a series of attacks on top military officials.
There has been no comment from Ukraine on the shooting. Lavrov did not cite evidence to support his accusation that Kyiv was behind the attack.
Alexeyev is deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff at the Defense Ministry. When Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a short-lived mutiny in June 2023, Alexeyev was one of the top officials who were sent to negotiate with him.
Several senior Russian military officials have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Moscow blaming the attacks on Kyiv.
In some cases, Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility.
The most recent officer to be killed was the head of the General Staff’s army training directorate, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, who was killed by a bomb under his car on December 22.
