A brazen assassination attempt in the heart of Moscow has sparked fresh tensions between Russia and its Western neighbors, with the Kremlin now accusing Poland of orchestrating an attack on one of its top military intelligence officials, according to Anadolu.
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy head of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, narrowly escaped death Friday when a gunman fired four silenced shots at him inside his apartment building. Though seriously wounded, the general survived but the political fallout is only beginning.
Russia’s Federal Security Service wasted no time naming suspects. Lyubomyr Korba, a Ukrainian national, allegedly pulled the trigger before fleeing to Dubai, where Emirati authorities detained and extradited him. His accomplice, Viktor Vasin, was arrested in Moscow just days later.
What has turned this violent episode into an international flashpoint are Russia’s explosive claims about who stood behind Korba. According to the FSB, Ukraine’s intelligence service recruited him in August 2025 in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. But Moscow insists Poland’s intelligence apparatus played a crucial role, allegedly working through Korba’s son Lubos, a Polish citizen living in Katowice.
In a video released by Russian authorities, Korba describes undergoing firearms training in Kyiv, passing a polygraph test, and receiving instructions via Zoom before infiltrating Russia through a circuitous route spanning three countries. The promised payment? Thirty thousand dollars.
This attack represents the latest in a disturbing pattern. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, dozens of Russian military figures have been targeted. Several assassinations have succeeded, including the killings of General Igor Kirillov and other high-ranking officers. Russia labels these incidents “terrorist acts” directed by Ukrainian intelligence charges Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied, though Western media often report unnamed SBU sources claiming responsibility.
Neither Poland nor Ukraine has responded to Moscow’s accusations. Meanwhile, the wounded general recovers, and the diplomatic temperature continues to rise across a continent already scarred by nearly three years of war.
