Close shave for Russian intel dy chief

MOSCOW: A senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, was shot and hospitalised in Moscow in an apparent assassination attempt on Friday, reported Al Jazeera. Alekseev, deputy chief of Russian military intelligence (GRU), has been involved in Russia's military campaigns in Ukraine and Syria. He's also been sanctioned by the US and EU for his role in malicious cyber activities and the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England. He is widely believed to have overseen the 2018 Novichok attack on Sergei Skripal in the UK and was a key negotiator during Yevgeny Prigozhin's 2023 mutiny.