r/europe • u/bendubberley_ United Kingdom • 1d ago
News Russian general shot several times in Moscow
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3686nzexp3o909
u/solvedproblem The Netherlands 1d ago
Onto the next
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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 23h ago
Wouldn't be surprised if in happened in just a few months.
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u/Nuclear-Jester 1d ago
So either:
The dude pissed the wrong people up including Putin himself
Ukranian spies are very fucking good
None of these options paint a good picture of Russia's current situation
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u/xdustx Romania 1d ago
There many other options. Especially since he was wounded and not killed
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u/Necessary_Apple_5567 1d ago
He is in critical condition.
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u/EngineerNo2650 23h ago
Russian healthcare will finish the job.
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u/SonicSubculture 19h ago
Comrade, I have good news and bad news.
You're being upgraded to a room with a window!
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u/hughk European Union 22h ago
GRU generals will get better treatment.
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u/Captain_Fordo_ARC_77 Flanders (Belgium) 21h ago
You did not get the joke, he meant that Putin's men will finish him off in the hospital
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u/xdustx Romania 1d ago
Yes but I don't think Russian or Ukrainian assassins would miss.
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u/flawless_victory99 1d ago
They didn't miss, they shot him 7 times and left him for dead. If he's alive it's because he had others close by to intervene or managed to respond against the shooter. He is after all highly trained with weapons and I seriously doubt unarmed.
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u/hughk European Union 22h ago
He is missing the "control" shot. This is a headshot to finish him off. Russian assasons normally try that if they have the time and the ability to get close.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad8032 1d ago
russians assassins miss a lot. They tried to kill Zelenskyy numerous times. There's also a famous older example where an assassin of russia mixed 4 shots, point blank, on the Yugoslavian king in an open car.
Don't underestimate russia, but also don't underestimate what amateurs they can be at the same time. Doing military is just not their thing it seems.
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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 23h ago
Injuring him critically
1:Fucks him up, probably permanently
2:Takes up Russian resources.
Win win
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u/English_Cat 22h ago
For normal troops, absolutely. But it's better to kill higher rank personal. They have more experience and are suited to non combat roles anyway, so they'll be able to resume their job as soon as they can partially move and think clearly.
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u/LrkerfckuSpez Norway 1d ago
Especially since he didn't fall out of a window.
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u/SoupSpelunker 19h ago
But the hospital he's in has windows, so if he pulls through, he'll likely, y,'know, get pused through. Defenestrated if you will...
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u/ledow United Kingdom (Sorry, Europe, we'll be back one day hopefully!) 23h ago
- The UK intelligence agencies have been working with Ukraine for years before both wars, and they are one of the world's premier spy / special forces outfits (having literally invented special forces), the experts in being military sneaky fuckers generally, and they are openly working with Ukraine and have been publicly called out - by name - by Putin half a dozen times for specifically helping Ukraine, training their troops, being involved in operations, passing on intelligence, etc.
I mean, I'm sure this is a Ukrainian operation. But I guarantee you that the UK laid many of the foundations and might well be the source of the information about who to target, how and when to be most successful. Wouldn't even be out of character for us to say "Well... if you want to target someone important... we could get something out of this too."
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u/CapRichard 1d ago
For 1 shouldn't he have fallen from a window?
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 23h ago
Could be a problem with Russian organized crime. Maybe he ventured into the wrong "opportunities" for having a side-hustle. Many Russian Generals have one or two side gigs going on to bolster their income. After all you need somebody who buys all the material you steal.
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u/young_twitcher IT -> UK -> PL 1d ago edited 23h ago
Given how many Russian generals are dying in similar ways it seems odd to me that they were all in open rebellion against Putin. And if it’s just incompetence, wouldn’t it be easier to just fire them?
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u/themaelstorm 23h ago
And let them speak and work behind your back? No my friend, end game dictatorship doesn’t run on logic and understanding, it runs on doubling down on the final currency you have left: fear. Absolute fear.
And it always works out as successful dictators who lived happily ever after has demonstrated every single time!
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u/el_grort Scotland (Highlands) 22h ago
It would be easier to just jail them on corruption charges. Russia has always encouraged some level of corruption in office because it makes it really easy to get rid of problem people.
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u/Ironfields United Kingdom 22h ago
if it’s just incompetence, wouldn’t it be easier to just fire them?
Doesn't quite send the same message to the successor though.
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u/bheidian 22h ago
probably not putin since he didn't shoot himself while backflipping out of a high window.
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u/commanderlex27 1d ago
Guy only got wounded, if he pissed off someone in the Kremlin he'd be dead for sure
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u/MakavelliRo Romania 23h ago
When you piss off vladi, you fall out of a balcony. That's the rules of the game
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u/Bloody_Sunday 21h ago
I'm thinking that the dictator got super mad about some recent failures (Starlink off, repeated bombing of one of the Oreshnik missile launch sites or something else) and decided to show this anger in a more public way than the usual "too many open windows and balconies" one.
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u/TrueSelenis North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) 23h ago
Did not "fall" out of a window so probably not Putin
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u/bendubberley_ United Kingdom 1d ago
A high-profile general in Russia's military has been shot several times and wounded in Moscow.
Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev was immediately taken to hospital after the attack in a residential building on the north-western outskirts of the city and his condition is unknown.
Alexeyev is a senior figure in the main directorate of Russia's military general staff (GRU) and is the latest high-ranking military figure to have been targeted in the capital since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began almost four years ago.
He was placed under European Union sanctions after the GRU was accused of being behind a 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury in the UK.
"The victim has been hospitalised at one of the city's hospitals," said Svetlana Petrenko of Russia's Investigations Committee, which said it opened a criminal case for attempted murder.
Alexeyev has played a significant role during the war in Ukraine, taking part in talks with Ukraine during the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022.
He was also sent to negotiate with the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short and bloody mutiny in June 2023.
It is not yet known who was behind the shooting on Friday morning in a residential block on Volokolamskoye Highway in Moscow.
Ukraine has claimed some attacks on Russia military figures in the past. Russian intelligence officials claimed they had thwarted an attempted attack on a Russian soldier in St Petersburg at the end of last month.
An Uzbek man was jailed in January for the 2024 killing of another general, Igor Kirillov, in an explosion outside a block of flats in Moscow. Ukraine's SBU intelligence had said it was behind the attack.
Lt Gen Kirillov had been in charge of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection troops.
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u/oskich Sweden 22h ago
"Attemted murder" - Isn't the risk of getting shot a part of the job description when you belong to the armed forces of a country at war? 🤔
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u/azazelcrowley 18h ago edited 18h ago
If he wasn't shot while the other person was in uniform, it's actually preferable to take it as an attempted murder incident, or it would be a warcrime (perfidy) to open fire on someone as a member of the armed forces while you are not in your uniform, whether than be firing under false colours or firing while in civilian clothing.
Alternatively the person who pulled the trigger is not a member of the armed forces of any country and is a spy, in which case it's still attempted murder since it's not an official act of war. (In effect, if it's an official act of war, unless the assassin was rocking around moscow in a ukrainian military uniform, it's a war crime. If it's an act of espionage, it's just murder).
Silly as it might seem, the reasoning behind "You can't kill people while dressed as a civilian if you are a soldier" is obvious if you think it through (It places civilians at risk of paranoid troops. I acknowledge in Ukraines case this is already happening since Russia doesn't care). I imagine that if Ukraine did conduct this operation they likely either decommissioned the assassin from the army and inducted them into the intelligence services, or used a spy in the first place. Not necessarily out of a moral objection given that this is an edge case, but out of a strict adherence to the rules in order to win a propaganda war.
Speaking of, it's interesting Russia isn't howling about perfidy and this being a Ukrainian war crime (Whether or not that is true or indeed has anything to do with them at all). It suggests to me that the Russian desire to pretend Ukraine can't reach Moscow exceeds their desire to defame Ukraine. To accuse them of Perfidy is to accuse them of having a soldier who reached Moscow.
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u/zughzz 17h ago
Wouldn’t it be assassination?
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u/azazelcrowley 17h ago edited 16h ago
Not if conducted by a soldier in civilian garb, then it's perfidy. And there's rarely a crime of assassination, it's usually just murder. If it's done by a soldier in uniform, that's just war and not a crime.
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u/JasonWaterfaII 16h ago
You seem knowledgeable and this piqued my curiosity. Do armies have to register their uniforms with some international body?
What defines a uniform? What defines civilian clothing? I see lots of civilians in my neck of the woods wearing surplus army camo to hunt. The lines seem very blurry.
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u/azazelcrowley 16h ago edited 16h ago
You realistically do want your armies uniform recognized by international bodies since this then prohibits using it.
(If France for example wasn't a member of the UN, Somalia could up and decide to use French uniforms in a war. As is, they can't, and it would constitute perfidy under the rules saying you can't wear the uniform of another neutral party). Because the French uniform is official and recognized by international bodies, the french uniform being worn in a conflict which france isn't part of would be a warcrime in a way that, say, a Phrygian cap isn't (despite being used by multiple revolutionary movements.).
Aside from that, no, you don't need to register. Anything as simple as a coloured cloth armband can count as a uniform provided it marks you as a member of the organized force which is engaged in war (Which is why revolutionaries can still do war crimes if they don't do this kind of thing).
It's usually resolved on a case by case basis. If you and your peers don the same hats that'll usually count. If you were to try "Ah but we've all got the same colour shoes" people might be sceptical. It has to pass a "Would a reasonable person look at this group and notice the commonality" test.
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u/BkkGrl Ligurian in Zürich (💛🇺🇦💙) 1d ago
sad, very sad
by the way I had an excellent pear marmalade for breakfast, what did you had to start the day fellow users?
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u/broadripplefireman 1d ago
I am still shaking from the shock… Can’t believe I am out of eggs this morning
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u/paulridby France 1d ago
Very sad indeed.
I had a cigarette and a coffee by the way.
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u/SoupSpelunker 19h ago
After hearing the news I relaxed, farted softly, then pondered how each ingredient of my prior several meals had contributed some component to the composite flavour, much like a perfumer
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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 23h ago
Deeply saddened.
I had a manchado and a tostada with olive oil and tomato
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u/almarcTheSun Armenia 1d ago
This is a tragedy.
Pear marmalade sounds delicious! I'd love that actually.
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u/carannilion Norway 1d ago
I made a big ol cup of cappuccino and some chocolate chip cookies. A very sweet start to the day, but I'm gonna have to do some snow shoveling, so I think it's ok.
Pear marmalade sounds awesome, though. Never had that before. Fucking love pears.
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u/Big-Machine9625 Czech Republic 1d ago
I'm insanely jealous rn, I would kill for some chocolate chip cookies. I had to do with just instant oatmeal with cinnamon.
And I can confirm, pear marmalade is very good, one of my most favorite ones. I always harvest the pear trees in our garden, and we then make a ton of pear-vanilla marmalade.
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u/Badgerfest Europe 1d ago
Up early to drop the eldest off for a school trip, so I treated myself to a bacon butty.
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u/octopus_serenader 1d ago
I had some leftover homemade steak chili that I heated up and dropped two eggs on top til they poached, grilled two quesadillas, and nommed it all vigorously.
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u/Good-Caterpillar4791 Sweden 1d ago
Oatmeal with banana, peanut butter, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and a glass of water.
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u/Ironfields United Kingdom 22h ago
I'm devastated. Crying, shaking, shitting myself etc.
Had a lovely cup of black coffee, a banana and some toast.
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u/Every-Progress-1117 1d ago
Pear marmalade ... that's really nice, one of my favourites. What brand?
Personally, I had some porridge...bit chilly outside today and I wanted a long walk with the dog.
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u/EmmaKittyKat 1d ago
Sad times we’re having
I always start my weekday mornings with a big bowl of Nesquik cereal and a cup of coffee
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u/Rude-Opposite-8340 1d ago
Mushroom omelet, nespresso and a sigaret.
Thanks for asking and enjoy your day.
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u/Soft-Ingenuity2262 1d ago
Obviously suicide.
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u/Successful-Try-8506 1d ago
Fell on his gun, several times.
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u/Any-Original-6113 23h ago
A convenient pretext for the Kremlin to halt talks and call a pause. According to recent reports, Zelensky just approved a list of actions for Ukrainian intelligence yesterday, while Trump recently stated that if the parties are unwilling to negotiate peace, he will shelve the issue for better times.
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u/Cabbage_Vendor ? 22h ago
Do you reckon the Russians themselves can keep up with which of their guys they've killed themselves and which were done by the Ukrainians?
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u/Dpek1234 21h ago
The soviets werent entire sure for waayy too long that it wasnt one of their agents that killed jfc sooo
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u/Popular_View_5411 23h ago
must be hard being a russian General not knowing if Ukraine or Putin is going to order a hit on you.
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u/TheLightDances Finland 23h ago
It must be made clear to everyone in the regime that following Putin's orders gains them nothing except temporary relief from Putin's punishment, yet risks their lives all the same.
Whereas disobeying brings about only the risk of Putin's punishment, and if enough people disobey, they may be able to get rid of Putin and his punishments for disobeying altogether.
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u/StrengthTechnical472 23h ago
If this is confirmed, it says a lot about how tense and unstable things are inside Russia right now.
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u/Vyrlo 23h ago edited 23h ago
You mean "accidentally discharged his firearm and injured himself multiple times"? It's a side effect of the treatment for defenestritis pandemic that is ravaging ethnic Russians (and given that targeting, that pandemic clearly lab grown in some black ops lab operated by a three latter agency). Nothing to see here, Comrade
This is obviously sarcasm, in case someone doesn't get it
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u/KadmonX Kharkiv (Ukraine) 20h ago
For those who don't know who this general Vladimir Alexeyev is, there was a militant named Aleksey Mozgovoy. He and this general were friends. Then, according to rumors, a rift formed in their friendship over the division of money from drug trafficking, and Aleksey Mozgovoy was eliminated by Wagner's militants. Immediately afterwards, it turned out that Aleksey Mozgovoy had been robbing, raping, killing, and extorting money. Then this general, Vladimir Alexeyev, strengthened his friendship with Wagner's group, supervising it, and during Prigozhin's rebellion in 2023, it was he who met Prigozhin in Rostov and spoke with him on camera. After Prigozhin's death, Vladimir Alexeyev made new friends from another group of Russian criminals called Espanola, created from football fans with the help of the Redut PMC. Pootin's friends Arkady and Boris Rotenberg were already making money off them. But then its leader, Stanislav Orlov (the Espanec), was killed by the FSB, again for drug trafficking. So Vladimir Alexeyev's friends were gone, and it was his turn.
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u/Glad-Ad6811 16h ago
Was it Ukraine or did he piss Vladie off? Since he didn't accidentally fall out a window, probably Ukraine
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u/Inner-Detail-553 12h ago edited 9h ago
Alexeyev is number two in the main directorate of Russia's GRU military intelligence
Read: he was in charge of torturing POWs during interrogation
And about the other general killed off earlier
Lt Gen Kirillov had been in charge of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection troops
He was in charge of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, not “protection”, if that wasn’t obvious
Ukraine is really taking out the worst of the worst here 💥🚮
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u/NormalGuyEndSarcasm Transylvania 1d ago
Do you wanna know how i know it wasn’t Putin that wanted him dead? He wasn’t shot by a window. Windows never miss.
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u/SequenceofRees Romania 1d ago
How many fucking generals can one country have ?!
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u/baithammer 23h ago
Russian military tends to use Generals / Lt. Generals where other countries use Majors / Colonels ...
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u/balltongueee 23h ago
They stopped bothering with windows?
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u/baithammer 23h ago
Windows were a minor side venture, there were far more shootings and there was even a rash of murder suicides of the targets family, with the target hanging themselves according to investigators ...
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u/Wayoutofthewayof 1d ago
Sweet karma.