Russia arrests two in failed hit on top military intelligence official, claims third suspect fled to Ukraine
Russian authorities say they have arrested two people in connection with the attempted assassination of Vladimir Alexeyev, the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency. Alexeyev was shot and seriously wounded last Friday inside an apartment building in Moscow.
On Sunday, February 8, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that a 65-year-old Russian citizen, Lyubomir Korba, had been arrested in Dubai and handed over to Russia. According to the FSB, Korba — whom the agency describes as the “direct perpetrator” of the attack — was remanded into custody in Moscow on February 7.
The FSB also said it had detained Viktor Vasin, a 66-year-old Russian citizen, in connection with the shooting. In addition, the agency named a third suspect, 54-year-old Zinaida Serebritskaya, who reportedly lived in the same apartment building as Alexeyev. According to the FSB, she left Russia for Ukraine.
Russia’s Investigative Committee later released a statement saying that Korba was born in Ukraine’s Ternopil region and arrived in Moscow in late December 2025 on instructions from Ukraine’s security services. Investigators said that a Makarov pistol fitted with a silencer and three rounds of ammunition were recovered at the scene of the shooting. The FSB also released surveillance footage that appears to show the alleged attacker leaving the weapon in a snowbank.
The suspects
The independent investigative outlet Agentstvo, citing leaked data, reported that in 2021, Korba registered his place of residence in the town of Nyagan, in Russia’s Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, where he worked as a machine operator. It is unclear when exactly he moved there from the Ternopil region. The leaked records also indicate that he later lived in a Moscow suburb and then in the city itself.
Korba has held a Russian passport since 2001. The Telegram channel Baza, which has ties to Russian security services, claimed that he also holds Ukrainian citizenship; a source told the Russian state news agency TASS the same thing.
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Multiple outlets — including Baza, Agentstvo, TASS, and the Russian breaking-news Telegram channel 112 — reported that Korba and Vasin had known each other for years. Leaked financial records cited by Agentstvo show that in 2016, Korba received two transfers of 4,500 rubles (about $60) from Vasin. Baza said the two met in 2015 at officer training courses, while 112 claimed they have known each other for roughly two decades.
Vasin was born in Biysk, in Russia’s Altai Krai. Baza described him as a former officer and the former head of security at a Moscow company. The channel claimed that Vasin was struggling with debt and agreed to help Korba for financial reasons, and that he obtained a gun for him — an assertion that has not been independently confirmed. Both the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe and Agentstvo found Vasin’s name in leaked databases of supporters of late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
The third person accused in the case, Zinaida Serebritskaya, lived in the same apartment building as Alexeyev, according to Shot, another Telegram channel close to Russia’s security services. Novaya Gazeta Europe found posts in a residents’ group chat where Serebritskaya shared recipes, asked about the intercom access code, and complained about malfunctioning radiators.
Leaked records indicate that Serebritskaya was born in the village of Khoroshe, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. According to Shot, she previously used the surname Antonyuk, which she changed when obtaining Russian citizenship. She moved into Alexeyev’s building in December 2025. Baza claimed she had been gathering information about the general’s movements.
Ukraine denies involvement
On Monday, the FSB said that the two suspects in custody — Lyubomir Korba and Viktor Vasin — had confessed to the attempt on Alexeyev’s life. According to the FSB, the men acted on instructions from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU). The agency also alleged that Polish intelligence helped recruit Korba through his son, a Polish citizen living in Katowice.
The FSB claimed that Korba was recruited in August 2025, underwent firearms training at a shooting range in Kyiv, and was then sent to Russia via Moldova and Georgia. Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, promised Korba $30,000 for killing Alexeyev.
The FSB also alleged that Korba conducted surveillance on senior Russian military officials in Moscow and received orders to kill Alexeyev in December 2025. According to the agency, he retrieved a gun, a silencer, ammunition, and an electronic key to Alexeyev’s apartment building from a cache in the Moscow region; the key was allegedly provided by Serebritskaya. The FSB said that Vasin rented the apartment where Korba stayed while preparing the attack and supplied him with public transport passes.
On the day of the shooting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha denied Kyiv’s involvement. “We don’t know what happened with that particular general — maybe it was their own internal Russian in-fighting,” he said, as quoted by Reuters. Polish officials have not commented on the FSB’s allegations.