Morning in Moscow often arrives quietly, filtered through pale winter light and the muted sounds of footsteps on ice-dusted pavement. In the city’s northwest neighborhoods, apartment buildings stand like patient witnesses to daily routines—doors opening, elevators humming, lives moving in familiar patterns. It was within this ordinary rhythm that violence briefly interrupted the calm.

In the stairwell of a residential building, a senior figure from Russia’s military establishment was struck by gunfire. Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence service, was wounded in what authorities later described as an apparent assassination attempt. He was transported to a hospital, where doctors worked to stabilize his condition as investigators began retracing the moments that led to the attack.

Alekseyev has long occupied a quiet but powerful place within Russia’s security apparatus. Serving for more than a decade in one of the country’s most secretive institutions, he has been associated with intelligence operations during conflicts in Syria and Ukraine and was a visible figure during the brief Wagner Group rebellion in 2023. His career reflects the modern Russian state’s reliance on intelligence as both shield and instrument, often operating far from public view.

The shooter escaped, leaving behind questions that have yet to settle. Surveillance footage is being reviewed, witnesses interviewed, and a criminal case opened. No group has claimed responsibility, and officials have offered little speculation about motive. In a city accustomed to secrecy, uncertainty has become part of the landscape.

The incident arrives against the backdrop of a prolonged war that has blurred the boundary between front lines and home streets. Over recent years, several high-ranking Russian military figures have been targeted in attacks that authorities frequently attribute to foreign intelligence operations. Each episode reinforces a sense that the conflict’s reach extends beyond distant battlefields, touching corridors, stairwells, and everyday spaces.

The Kremlin confirmed that President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the shooting, and discussions of increased security for senior officials followed. Yet beyond the immediate response lies a deeper unease—an acknowledgment that power, once assumed to be insulated, now moves under visible strain.

As evening settles over Moscow, the city resumes its measured pace. Lights glow in apartment windows, traffic slides along frozen roads, and conversations continue in low voices. The stairwell has fallen silent again, but the moment lingers, another quiet marker in a long season shaped by war, secrecy, and the fragile distance between public calm and private peril.

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Illustrations were created using AI tools and are not real photographs.

Sources

Associated Press; Reuters; The Washington Post; The Guardian; France 24.

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