Russia's top intelligence official has accused Britain of involvement in the attempted assassination of a senior Russian general believed to have played a key role in the 2018 poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal, The Telegraph reported.
Alexander Bortnikov, director of Russia's Federal Security Service, said investigators uncovered what he described as a "British trace" in the Feb. 6 shooting of Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev in northwest Moscow.
Alekseyev was shot multiple times inside an apartment building but survived after being placed in a medically induced coma. Russian state media report he is now recovering.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Alekseyev has long been suspected of orchestrating the March 4, 2018, Novichok nerve agent poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England.
The British government blamed Russian military intelligence officers for that attack.
Skripal and his daughter survived, but a British woman later died after coming into contact with the nerve agent.
In comments to Russian outlet Vesti, Bortnikov suggested that Ukrainian intelligence was behind the Moscow shooting but operating with Western backing.
"Ukrainian intelligence had carried out the assassination attempt under the supervision, or with the oversight, of Western intelligence agencies, so to speak," Bortnikov said.
"We see a British trace here, first and foremost," he added, without presenting public evidence.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian intelligence has been linked to targeted attacks on Russian military and occupation officials.
Russian Telegram channels also speculated that the shooting could have stemmed from internal rivalries within Moscow.
Russia's intelligence identified the alleged gunman as Lyubomir Korba, 65, a Russian citizen born in the Ternopil region of Soviet Ukraine.
The agency released video that it said showed Korba confessing to being recruited by Ukrainian intelligence, claiming he received firearms training in Kyiv and was promised $30,000 for the hit.
Intel further alleged Polish intelligence played a role in the recruitment — a claim swiftly rejected by Poland's military counterintelligence chief, who called it "typical disinformation."
Bortnikov said the probe remains active.
"The investigation is ongoing. If there is any additional information, we will certainly make it public," he said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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