Russia accuses Poland of involvement in assassination attempt on general in Moscow

Russia’s Federal Security Agency (FSB) has accused Polish intelligence of being involved in last week’s attempted assassination of a high-profile military figure in Moscow, which it says was carried out on Ukraine’s orders.

Kyiv has denied involvement in the attack while Poland has not yet commented on the FSB’s claims, which were presented without evidence.

General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was on Friday shot three times in the stairwell of his apartment building, leaving him in critical condition in hospital. He has since regained consciousness and his life is not in danger, according to Russian media reports.

On Sunday, the authorities in Dubai detained and handed over to Russia a man, Lyubomir Korba, accused by Moscow of carrying out the shooting. Russia has also identified two other accomplices, one of whom, Viktor Vasin, was detained in Moscow. The other allegedly fled to Ukraine.

On Monday, the FSB claimed that Korba and Vasin, both of whom are Russian citizens, have admitted to their role in the attack, which was “carried out on orders from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)”, according to a statement carried by Russian state news agency Interfax.

The FSB added that Korba’s son, Lubos, a Polish citizen residing in Katowice, “took part in his [father’s] recruitment [by the SBU] with the participation of Polish intelligence services”.

No further details of the alleged Polish involvement have been reported. Russia regularly accused Poland, which is a close ally of Ukraine, of being a hostile country whose leaders are imbued with “Russophobia”.

An opinion poll published last month showed that 62% of Russians regard Poland as an “enemy”, the joint most (alongside Lithuania) of any country included in the study.

However, Moscow itself has carried out a range of so-called “hybrid actions” against Poland, including sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation.

In retaliation, the Polish government has successively closed down all of Russia’s consulates in Poland, prompting Moscow to do the same with Polish consulates in a tit-for-tat move.

There has thus far been no official response from the Polish authorities to the FSB’s claims. Ukraine, meanwhile, has denied any involvement in the assassination attempt.

“We don’t know what happened with that particular general – maybe it was their own internal Russian infighting,” said Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, quoted by Reuters.

Alexeyev is under UK and EU sanctions over the GRU’s role in the 2018 attempt to assassinate Russian dissidents Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the UK in 2018. He is also accused of leading the GRU’s efforts to interfere in the 2020 US presidential election.