Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev was shot several times at a residential building in the northwest of the Russian capital by an unknown assailant who fled the scene. Alexeyev was one of the top officials sent to negotiate with mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin when he staged a short-lived mutiny in June 2023. Several senior Russian officers 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.