Russia blames Britain for assassination bid as Putin spy chief gunned down in Moscow

 Russia has pointed the finger at Britain after one of Vladimir Putin’s most senior military spy chiefs was gunned down.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, 64, deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was shot at a residential building in Moscow on February 6. He was left seriously injured and taken to hospital, but is expected to survive.

Russia’s counterintelligence chief today claimed there was a "British trace" behind the shooting, alleging it was carried out by Ukrainian special services. No evidence of British involvement was provided.

Alexander Bortnikov, 74, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), said: “We clearly understand that the organisers are the Ukrainian special services.

"And behind them stand third countries, which we have spoken about before, that the Ukrainian special services operate under the supervision, or with the supervision, of Western intelligence services. We see a British trace above all here. Therefore, the investigation is continuing."

Bortnikov stressed that retaliatory measures against alleged 'terrorist attacks' by Kyiv are being taken, but labelled the matter a "delicate issue". He also emphasised that those involved would not be forgiven or forgotten.

Vladimir Alekseyev has previously been linked to the 2018 Novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury. The European Union alleged he "orchestrated" the GRU operation against the Skripals and cited this as grounds for sanctions. Russia had earlier suggested a Western link to the shooting through Poland.

The Alekseyev shooting showed an embarrassing lapse in Russian security involving senior generals linked to the war. There were claims he had dismissed his bodyguards in order to visit a younger lover at the time he was shot.

Two suspects, Lyubomir Korba, 65, and Viktor Vasin, 66, were arrested and accused of working for Ukraine’s SBU security service.

A third suspect, Zinaida Serebryakova, 54, who reportedly lived in the building where Alekseyev was shot, is said to have fled to Ukraine. The FSB said Korba and Vasin have "fully admitted their guilt."