Three men accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate senior military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev earlier this month have been charged with terrorism, a spokeswoman for Russia’s top investigative body said Friday.
“Given the overall nature of the crime and the circumstances, investigators are bringing charges of terrorism against Lyubomir Korba, Viktor Vasin and Pavel Vasin,” Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetalana Petrenko told reporters.
Earlier, the men were charged with attempted murder and arms trafficking.
Alexeyev, a lieutenant general who serves as first deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, was hospitalized after being shot several times at an apartment in Moscow last Friday. He remains in critical condition.
Russia’s FSB security service claims Korba, who was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to Russia, shot Alexeyev with a Makarov pistol equipped with a silencer. Viktor Vasin, meanwhile, was said to have rented out an apartment to Korba in the building where the general was shot.
Both men confessed to having acted on orders from Ukraine’s SBU security service, the FSB said.
Vasin’s son Pavel was accused of providing his father and Korba with “vehicles that were used for physical surveillance and for retrieving weapons from a hidden cache.”
On Wednesday, a Moscow court ordered the three men to be placed in pre-trial detention for at least two months. They face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of terrorism.
Russian police also issued an arrest warrant for a woman named Zinaida Serebritskaya, who is a fourth person of interest in the attempted assassination of Alexeyev. She is believed to have fled to Ukraine, law enforcement said.
Spokeswoman Petrenko said Friday that Serebritskaya would be charged with terrorism in absentia.
Ukraine has dismissed allegations that it was involved in last week’s shooting and suggested the incident was the result of “Russian infighting.”
The attempted assassination of Alexeyev is just the latest in a string of attacks inside Russia targeting senior military officials. Since December 2024, three generals have been killed in or near Moscow, with the most recent killing having taken place late last year.
