Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik

Force in Play

Killed April 25, 2025

Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a campaign of assassinations has targeted its military elite in Moscow. On February 6, 2026, an attacker posing as a delivery person shot Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev three times in his Moscow apartment building. Alekseyev, first deputy head of Russian military intelligence (GRU) and accused mastermind of the 2018 Salisbury nerve agent attack, underwent emergency surgery, regained consciousness on February 7, and stabilized under intensive care.

Updated May 27

Force in Play

Killed by car bomb near Moscow, April 25, 2025

A car bomb killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov in southern Moscow on December 22, 2025—the latest in a series of targeted assassinations of Russian military officials. Sarvarov, who headed the training department within Russia's general staff, was blown up in the capital city itself, a brazen escalation of Ukraine's shadow war behind Russian lines. Two days later, another bombing in the same Moscow district killed two police officers and the attacker, raising questions about whether the incidents are connected.

Updated May 16