GRU General Linked to Salisbury Shot in Moscow (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Let's get to one of the stories in those headlines a top-ranking Russian general linked to the Salisbury poisonings back in 2018 has been shot several times and wounded in Moscow Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev was rushed to hospital this morning after an attack in a residential Apartment block on the northwestern outskirts of the city. Its current condition is unknown Alexeyev is part of the GRU's military intelligence unit So he will have been closely connected to the operations in Ukraine And he's not the first high-ranking official to be targeted in the capital. Let's speak to the BBC's Russian correspondent. Olga is Sheena Olga, what do we know about the circumstances around the attack?

[00:00:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, as you rightly said the general Alexeyev was assassinated this morning around 7 a.m. When he was leaving Apartment block where he lives and apparently he met someone At the entrance and from what we know he was shot several times and taken into the hospital in critical condition what what what his State of health is currently. We don't know spokesperson of Russia's Russia's president Dmitry Peskov said that Mr. Putin is getting hourly updates about General's health and that Russia would respond appropriate appropriately.

[00:01:19] Speaker 1: So is there any speculation in Russia as to who was responsible?

[00:01:24] Speaker 2: Well, if judging by statements by Russian officials and what they say in Russian state TV that they Have almost no doubt Ukraine was behind the attack officials in Kiev have not commented on the case, but General Alexeyev is actually the fifth general the fifth Russian general who has been assassinated in the Moscow over the past 16 months probably so since end of 2024 and some of the previous attacks our sources in the Ukrainian intelligence Hinted that they might have some connection to them What will peak interest here in the UK is his links his historic links to what happened in Salisbury? Yes, so General Alexeyev is a long-serving intelligence officer from what we know He has been at the top levels of Russian military intelligence GRU at least since 2011 And yes, as you rightly said he has been put on sanctions at least For his involvement in Salisbury Salisbury poisoning Allegedly, he has also planned and executed operations in Syria in during Russian Russia's full-scale invasion into Ukraine So, yeah He has quite a long track list of things and that's only the things we know right because of course the main operations are still top-secret and classified Olga, thanks very much for that.

[00:02:45] Speaker 1: We'll continue to monitor that situation the general in hospital receiving urgent care