Suspect in Shooting of Russian Senior General Arrested, President Putin Thanks UAE

JAKARTA - The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported the arrest of a shooter who attempted to kill a senior official of the Russian Ministry of Defense and a male accomplice.

The Russian Defense Ministry official Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev happened on February 6, when an unidentified gunman fired several shots at the general in a residential building on Volokolamskoye Highway and fled the scene.

Lieutenant General Alexeyev was taken to hospital with injuries. He was treated for gunshot wounds in hospital.

The shooter, Russian citizen Lyubomir Korba, born in 1960, was arrested in Dubai and extradited to Russia with the help of the United Arab Emirates partners, the FSB told TASS as quoted (9/1).

The two accomplices are Russian citizens Viktor Vasin, born in 1959, and Zinaida Serebritskaya who was born in 1971 and fled to Ukraine, the FSB said.

Meanwhile, the search for the mastermind of the attack is still ongoing.

A Makarov pistol with a silencer and three bullets were found at the scene of the shooting, said Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko to TASS.

Previously, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Alexeyev.

"This terrorist act once again confirms the commitment of the regime (President Volodymyr) Zelensky to constant provocations aimed at disrupting the negotiation process, and its readiness to make every effort to persuade its Western supporters not to lag behind the United States in an attempt to divert them from the path to a just settlement," said Foreign Minister Lavrov.

Korba reportedly arrived in Moscow in December on instructions from Ukraine's secret service to carry out the attack.

Russia and Ukraine just completed the second round of trilateral negotiations involving the United States in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday-Thursday, which was praised as a constructive dialogue. Previously, the three countries held negotiations in the same city last weekend.

However, Foreign Minister Lavrov refused to speculate on how the incident could affect future negotiations.

"That's not my function, it will be decided by the leadership of our country," he said.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the assistance of his country's authorities in arresting a suspect in an attempt to assassinate a senior Russian general, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"President Putin made a phone call to the President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last night. President Putin thanked the President of the United Arab Emirates for the fruitful cooperation between the intelligence services and the assistance of the United Arab Emirates in arresting a suspect in a terrorist attack against General (Vladimir) Alekseyev," said Peskov.

He added that the two leaders continued discussions on issues raised during Al Nahyan's recent visit to Moscow.