RUSSIA – Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, first deputy chief of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) was on Friday shot several times in the back in an attempted assassination.

According to Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, Alekseev, 64, was shot by an as-yet-unidentified individual outside a residential building in Moscow, and the assailant fled the scene, but was being sought by police.

“According to investigators, on February 6, in a residential building located on Volokolamskoe Highway in Moscow, an as-yet-unidentified individual fired several shots at a man and fled the scene. The victim was hospitalized in a city hospital,” she said.

Petrenko added that a criminal case on attempted murder and illegal trafficking of firearms has been opened regarding the incident.

Alekseev is one of Russia’s most senior military intelligence officials, having served as first deputy head of the GRU since 2011.

Investigators and forensic teams are working at the scene.